Following a turbulent FA Cup visit to Old Trafford just five days ago, Aston Villa welcomed Manchester United to Villa Park in hopes of dishing out a spot of revenge in the league.
The January window had already sparked excitement amongst Villa fans, with Barcelona loanee Philippe Coutinho and ex-Everton left back Lucas Digne joining the club.
Here is how the two sides lined-up, with both sides without big first-team players due to one-match bans.
Steven Gerrard replaced John McGinn with Morgan Sanson, while Digne’s immediate admittance to the starting eleven meant mainstay Matt Targett dropped to the bench.
The build-up to this fixture became one of revenge and justice after a disappointing and somewhat controversial FA Cup drop-out for Villa. Following an introduction of the new number 23 to the home crowd, the game began. Man United adopted a different formation with 4-2-3-1, with a rigid 5 in midfield at times suffocating Villa’s ability to move between the lines.
The first 25 minutes of the half saw Villa struggle to get a foot on the ball, backing off from the visitors with extremely passive and weak efforts to regain control of the midfield in particular. Just after the five minute mark, a silly foul just outside the penalty area gifted United another set piece opportunity. Bruno Fernandes struck direct for goal, straight at Martinez, who spilled the ball between his own legs into the back of the net.
Given the early goal in the cup fixture just days prior, Gerrard and his team would have been dreading a repeat of events in such early stages of the game. Martinez’s mess was a painful one and left Villa Park slightly stunned, and even more nervy with a long way to go in the game. The reaction to this goal was poor. Villa remained cagey and panicked at every attempt on the ball, and looked more inclined to back off the opposition on their attack than throw in a challenge and risk another set piece. Ragnick’s side had a few more chances on Villa’s goal, but Martinez dealt with these well.
It took until around the 30 minute mark for Villa to go up a gear or two. There were more efforts to get forward, and a corner from Digne met the head of Emi Buendia who couldn’t quite beat De Gea. Digne also had his own chance, striking from relatively close range, but straight at the keeper. As half-time crept nearer, Villa were starting to come out of their shells, but not enough to put fans’ nerves at ease. An awkward injury to the hip/back of Ezri Konsa meant that he hobbled his way in at half-time and could not return for the remainder of the game.
At the break, at 0-1 down, the game was very much still in Villa’s hands if they could switch to a more positive, powerful and pressurised version of themselves. They needed an injection of life – something to encourage them to throw in a challenge and grab hold of the game. Steven Gerrard dished out some much-needed honesty – an encouraging trait for a manager who is not afraid to pull up individuals on poor performances but command enough respect to trigger a turn around in the game.
The second-half was a different story for Aston Villa, who looked far more confident going forwards despite a few waylaid passes still cropping up in poor positions. Two left-footed centre backs looked slightly awkward, and limited the options when playing out from the back, but Hause did slip in well – attempting some nice long balls to Digne to switch up play.
Each of United’s most dangerous opportunities were gifts from Villa – a worrying pattern – and it was no different for the second goal. A short pass from Sanson set up Fred in a good position to lay the ball off to Fernandes. The less said about Bruno the better on an Aston Villa fan site, but he smashed the ball home and gave United a two goal cushion with 25 minutes left to play.
For Villa fans, the best was to come. The reaction to the two goal deficit began, with Coutinho entering the stage for a frustrated Sanson, in an effort to pile the attackers forward. Chukwuemeka also entered the field for Danny Ings shortly after. These two changes seemed to come at the right time as Villa became increasingly direct towards goal. A good forward run from Mings, laid off to Coutinho and then passed back and forth to young Carney left the ball rolling to Ramsey’s feet – the Holte End watching wide-eyed behind the goal. The academy star belted it into the top right corner, past De Gea, and gave Villa a footing back.
The equaliser came shortly after, with another direct forward ball from Mings breaking through the United midfield, straight to the feet of Watkins and through to Buendia who played an excellent ball to Ramsey in the penalty area, ready to be glanced across the face of goal to an on-running Coutinho. The debutant struck home, like a conductor in an orchestra commanding the music of Villa Park to erupt, with the Holte End in crescendo.
Two quick goals meant that Villa gained a point after looking uncertain of anything for large periods of the game. The half-time change was good, and the substitutions positive enough to spur on a comeback. Disappointingly, the level of performance was not maintained from the first whistle as Villa were outdone by a ruffled Man United side. However, a determined, spirited team performance in the second 45 meant that Villa thoroughly deserved something from the game by the end.
Going forward, the next six games on the fixture list are looking quite positive for Steven Gerrard. A recent rough run of opposition and few points on the board mean that the next month must be a springboard for the rest of the season – capitalising on these good performances and impressive individual displays to take points off weaker sides.
Buendia was very good, completely dominating all of Villa’s positive movements and always picking out a good pass. Morgan Sanson also looked positive for a player that has barely played for 12 months. Carney’s cameo was one of his best as he had a real grip of the midfield, winning balls and charging forward – a real commanding display in the short amount of time. Digne’s debut was a good one, always looking to get forward and his crossing was decent.
Coutinho will grab the headlines, and he is an exciting prospect, but props to young Ramsey who rectified quite a poor first-half with an emphatic second – scoring and assisting to earn his boyhood team a much-needed point.
UTV. Hannah.
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