Home » Teams » Manchester United » The Comeback Kings Manchester United Win To Take A 4 Point Lead Leaving Aston Villa Gutted

The Comeback Kings Manchester United Win To Take A 4 Point Lead Leaving Aston Villa Gutted

Manchester United, the comeback kings were once again made to comeback from being 2-0 to fight hard and win against a Villa side that were brilliant on the night when many expected them to have attacking problems with the absence of Darren Bent. For United Chris Smalling made his first premier league start of the season with Evans out injured and Paul Scholes who has scored 4 times in the previous fixtures against Villa, was back starting the match. For Villa, Paul Lambert named the same squad as last week against Sunderland which saw them keeping a clean sheet.

The Teams:

Manchester United: De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Smalling, Evra; Carrick, Scholes; Valencia, Young, Rooney; Van Persie; Subs: Anderson, Lindegaard, Hernandez, Welbeck, Cleverley, Fletcher, Buttner; Formation: 4-2-3-1

Aston Villa:Guzan; Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Stevens; Ireland, Westwood, Bannan; Weimann, Benteke, Agbonlahor;  Subs: Given, El Ahmadi, Albrighton, Holman, Delph, Bowery, Williams; Formation: 4-3-3.

United started the match by having majority of the possession for the first five minutes, while the Villa Park fans were constantly booing Ashley Young whenever the ball went to him making him know of their bitterness for moving to United the last season. Time and again Paul Scholes proved that he was not a good tackler by giving away a free kick from a decisive position for Villa that lead to a series of corners, which failed to bring any serious threat to United. Aston Villa had a golden chance when Rooney lost the ball on the other side of the pitch that saw Villa launch a counter attack through Stephen Ireland and for a moment United were 2-on-3 defending which was poorly finished. Another opportunity came for Villa through a through pass from the midfield which was controlled well by Bentecke, but was cleared by Rio Ferdinand for a corner. That move saw Rio screaming at the assistant Referee for an offside decision, but Bentecke was clearly onside.

Aston Villa were looking dangerous on every counter attack that they carried forward United’s box not allowing the league leaders to settle into their game. Shots at the goal were hard to come by as Aston Villa was defending well. Every move that Manchester United brought forward was through their wing man Antonio Valencia, signs predicting that Aston Villa were defending well in front of the goal. There was a midfield battle going on between Ireland and Scholes who were matching each other for the tackles and the work rate for the team. Half hour passed by seeing United having 60% of the possession which was put to no use until that point because Villa were pressing United on the middle for the ball. Manchester United were constantly being denied a clear through shot on the goal, thanks to some fine and disciplined defending by the Villa players.

Villa were themselves satisfied to take the attack on the break and keep defending. All the shots that United had to take were way outside from the box that had no particular effect as it was comfortably saved by the Villa defense and Keeper. And finally the waves of counter attacks paid off for Villa on the stoppage time of 1st half as Bentecke had the pace to beat Smalling on the wings and put the ball to the foot of the Austrian Weimann who struck a superb swirling shot that caught De Gea by surprise and even before he could react, Villa had scored. With just 30% of the possession in the entire half, Villa went into halftime 1-0.

The pressure was telling at United which made Sir Alex take Young off to be replaced by Hernandez at the beginning of the half time changing their formation as well to 4-4-2. Villa were in dreamland as another wonderful passing move through the middle allowed Agbonlahor to put a cross to the far post that was met with Weimann who completed his second of the night on the 49th minute. Villa park was buzzing and it was going to be a miracle to come back from 2 goals down, but still possible especially by the comeback kings. And the comeback kings were back on the trail as they got one back on the 58th minute when a superb pass from the midfield maestro  Scholes put Hernandez through 1-on-1 with the keeper and finished cheekily through the legs of Guzan. 2-1 to Villa and the game was back on. It was the 6th goal for Hernandez in 5 matches!

Villa were more proactive on the attack trying to regain the 2 goal cushion, but were thwarted on their attempts. Another move from Villa’s Bentecke was cleared off by the United defense. They were living dangerous trying to equalize, and they equalized with the move that was cleared off from Bentecke. The comeback kings were back with a very good passing move which Rafael crossed it to the far post and was neatly finished off an awkward volley brilliantly by Hernandez on the 62nd minute. It was his second goal of the game in 15 minutes, brilliant substitution by SAF. A thumping header by Weimann off a cross from Agbonlahor brought out the best of De Gea as he made a brilliant point blank save on the 67th minute. Valencia was poor throughout the night as once again he crossed the ball seeing that there was no one back on the far post. Smalling had to make a last ditch tackle to stop Bentecke from getting anything out of a cross that was dangerous.

United made their 2nd substitution of the night by removing Scholes to bring on Cleverley as RVP headed the corner which was stopped by the presence of the crossbar and was cleared for a corner. That corner was yet again not cleared properly and RVP had another opportunity to curl his shot from just outside the box, but yet again hitting the post. RVP hit the post twice within a minute. United were into the groove where they looked dangerous and their comeback was coming, which was evident as Villa were just not able to hold on to the ball. United made their final substitution on the 75th minute by bringing on Anderson for Rooney who was earlier seen limping on the field. Aston Villa made two substitutions on the 78th minute by removing Ireland & their Star Weimann by bringing on El Ahmadi & Holman.

Hernandez scores twice inspiring yet another UTD comeback

The game was running down until the 87th minute where Anderson was fouled leading to a free kick. Aston Villa made their final substitution by removing Bannan and bringing on Delph. The freekick was taken by RVP who put in a wonderful ball which was met low down the ground and headed in typical Hernandez style for the comeback to be completed. The comeback kings United lead 3-2, thanks to the brilliant Chicarito. Paul Lambert was distraught at the touchline as the United camp was up with jubilation. Five minutes were added on at the end and Villa got a series of shots on the goal which was cleared by De Gea with much discomfort. United had all their players defending; surely they would not want to throw it away now after doing it the difficult way. Time was being wasted in taking the free kick by De Gea as we saw Paul Lambert indicating the time to the Referee. The free kick from De Gea was the last play of the day as the comeback kings won it 3-2.

The game turned out to be such an entertaining one, where a young Villa team gave the league leaders a run for their money. Aston Villa were brilliant for the entire first half where they played to their game plan by squeezing United out on the middle and making them go to their wings with some brilliant and disciplined defending that has been difficult to find by this season. They started the second half with a bang as their hero of the day Andy Weimann fired in another. Probably United had under estimated this Villa side and were too complacent and sloppy in their play until went 2-0 down after which they had to get serious. But once they got their 1st goal which was a typical cheeky Hernandez goal, the comeback was always on the cards. And Hernandez it was, who made the comeback possible with the flexibility of the rotation of three strikers within the game that broke the Villa defense that was brilliant in the first hour of the game. It was the 5th time this season United had come back to win from a losing position – that was 15 points saved! United are now 4 points clear at the top and we heard SAF “we are in a new position now after a long time, where we have to maintain this lead”.

United need to stop being complacent and try to take the game to their opposition as they cannot expect a comeback always.  As for Aston Villa, this is a game that they can be proud of and move forwards coming this close to defeating the league leaders. It definitely is a team to look forward to the future and if Villa continue playing like this, it is a sign of good things to come. Aston Villa face the defending champions next week on Saturday while the Red Devils host Norwich City next Sunday.

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