The Liverpool connection at Aston Villa denied Manchester United a win after Ralf Rangnick’s team had taken a 2-0 lead; but Villa boss Steven Gerrard brought Philippe Coutinho on to the pitch, and the Brazilian created one then scored the equaliser in an entertaining game.
Rangnick made a number of changes from the team that won in the FA Cup against the same opponents on Monday, and also tried a new formation. It was a strange evening, with United playing well for large periods, but also susceptible to the sort of passive errors that plague their chances of progression as a squad.
United had a couple of early corners which amounted to very little – nothing remarkable there, apart from the fact it clocked over a hundred in the league this season since hiring a set piece coach specifically to strengthen that sort of routine.
Sometimes you just need a little luck from set-plays. United got some in the sixth minute. Telles touched a free-kick softly enough for the home defence to react slowly; Fernandes set himself up for a shot.
Villa goalkeeper Martinez looked to have caught it – but the ball squirmed through his arms, down and through his legs and into the net. It was one of the more horrendous errors of its type and Fernandes might well have thought it karma for the same goalkeeper’s theatrical rubbing-it-in in the reverse game at Old Trafford this season. Martinez reacted angrily, looking for blame wherever he could – there was no mirror for him to see the culprit.
In the 18th minute, it was almost two – a gorgeous Telles cross was just in front of Cavani, and Martinez made amends to rush out and deny Greenwood. Greenwood was a big threat in the first half, firing wide and testing Martinez again later on.
United had been promising and pro-active for the first half hour but Villa then started to come back into it – Buendia and then Digne testing De Gea, but the goalkeeper was equal to it.
Elanga and Ramsey ensured both keepers were tested early in the second half. On the hour mark, Elanga and then Greenwood had chances that both went just wide – this coming after a period of pressure from the hosts.
It seemed United needed a second goal to get control of the game before Coutinho came on – and it came midway through the second half. Fred, who had been playing so high up the pitch he’d almost adopted Fernandes’ position, intercepted a pass in this advanced area. He played in Fernandes, who fired in a shot in off the bar from just inside the box.
It was another important contribution from the number 18, who had found himself getting involved in the increasingly nasty atmosphere with frequent yellow cards and sniping tackles.
Villa got a way back into the game when Ramsey fired home fourteen minutes from time – and seven minutes later, Coutinho, who had teed up the first, levelled when the first goalscorer turned provider. The hosts certainly deserved parity for their second half efforts – United could feel that they’d been poor at two key defensive moments.
It’s twenty years this month since United recorded a famous 3-2 win at this ground after being 2-0 down in an FA Cup game – they were lucky to avoid a reserve of that here, though the game ended as it started, with the visitors wasteful from a corner.
A point it is then, from an Aston Villa team who rarely draw – it’s a point that hardly does United any favours in their Champions League push, and a performance that answered some questions and asked others.
Selection / Tactics
Some decisions were enforced. Shaw and McTominay were suspended. Ronaldo was injured, Rashford too, although that might have been a mercy mission from the manager after the forward’s recent form. That was a bonus for Mason Greenwood and Anthony Elanga, who both were presented with chances.
One change was not forced. Harry Maguire, club captain, was left on the bench, with Rangnick citing a strong performance from Lindelof and Varane in the cup as a reason not to make a change.
It was interesting to see, with all of these changes, what shape the manager would choose; the selection lending itself to a natural 4-2-3-1, but Ronaldo’s absence surely tempting the manager to look at the natural energy his system could excuse with more youth in the front line. It seemed to be a 4-3-3 – Fred on the right and Fernandes on the left of Matic, the Brazilian pushing to press out of possession.
It was a strange shape, and when you looked at it in the main, you could see strong points and also weak ones – there was a general cohesion in the first half that had many wondering if it was one of the best halves of football United had played for years. And then there were the individual errors and sloppiness which were more prominent as Villa became more proactive themselves.
Rangnick might be right to feel a three man shape like this is the best way this squad can approach an attempt at midfield dominance, and he might even be right that these are the three to play, but this is the sort of dysfunction we can probably expect from an area of the pitch still in need of reinforcement.
Defensively United were sound enough – aside from the space for the equaliser, which rounded off a poor few minutes for Dalot – and offensively they were bright enough for those who were keen to see the Ronaldo-less experiment succeed to be happy, but a failure to control and take the sting out of a game United were 2-0 up in has to seen as a negative.
Ratings
De Gea 7
Dalot 5
Lindelof 6
Varane 6
Telles 7
Matic 6
Fred 7
Greenwood 7
Fernandes 8
Elanga 7
Cavani 6
Subs
Sancho
Lingard
Van De Beek
