Young: Delph can reach the top

Delph was voted man of the match by the Villa fans in the 3-2 home success over Brighton in the FA Cup and scored his first goal since a £6 million summer move from Leeds. He is already showing signs of becoming the next young English player to make a big impact at Villa Park after the likes of Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and James Milner. And Young, who wore the captain's armband in place of the rested Stiliyan Petrov, feels he has a massive future in the game. Young said: "Fabian can become a great player. He has got a fantastic future ahead of him. "Everyone has seen, including the fans, how well he can play and he just showed it against Brighton once again. "Everytime he has come on or started games, he has shown glimpses of being a fantastic player so if he keeps learning like he is, keeps listening, he can go a long way." Young added: "Fabian has had to be patient here and it can be difficult adjusting, coming from League One to a Premier League club, but I think he has adjusted fantastically well. "In fairness, we've got a great team spirit here so it is not hard for anyone to adapt and everyone pulls in the same direction." Delph, who played under Brighton boss Gus Poyet when he was in charge of Leeds, was less complimentary about his performance against the Seagulls despite picking up the man of the match award. He said: "Was that my best performance in a Villa shirt? No definitely not. I thought I was very sloppy in the first half. I've got a lot more to add and hopefully with games, I'll improve. "To be fair, I've had a few chances this season and not done particularly well so I've got no-one to blame apart from myself. "People like to set themselves high standards, including me, and hopefully I can reach the standards I achieved with Leeds. "Obviously it is a big difference here and with time, games and experience and working with other players, I'll get there." Young revealed his pride at skippering Villa and he showed his versatility by playing as a second striker behind Nathan Delfouneso in the absence of the rested Agbonlahor and the injured Emile Heskey and John Carew. He said: "It is a proud moment to wear the captain's armband. I was delighted to be able to lead the team out and the main thing was we are through to the next round. "It was a different role for me, playing just off the striker. I found out close to kick off. I was surprised. I have been playing on the right and inter-changing with Stewart Downing on the left as well. "But I enjoyed playing in that role and it's all good experience. Poyet is hoping his players will benefit from the experience of playing against Premier League opponents. He said: "In the first half we showed what we can do and with the way we equalised. We kept playing our way and kept trying to play our way and that was important. "We made two or three mistakes that you sometimes get away with in League One. "With Premier League players you don't and we were punished for that. I'm sure they're going to learn. "But I was determined to come to Villa and try and win the game, try and entertain, not hope for a nil-nil, and there were a lot of good things."