✍ Ratings are coming shortly, here's a brief post-match summary...
Urgh.
One could say that United lost to Young Boys because of the early sending-off. That United lost to West Ham because it was their rotated team, and the Carabao Cup does not matter anyway.
This time, Man United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have no excuses. Their strongest side (at least, as seen by the manager) were outplayed by Aston Villa.
Creativity was non-existent. Too many short passes were misplaced. Greenwood had too many shots when he should've passed. Bruno had a nightmare. Even Ronaldo (!) was anonymous.
True, injuries to Shaw and Maguire did not help. But United's defensive problems today had little to do with the personnel.
Aston Villa deserved to win today. As for United, they need to take a long hard look at themselves before their next game against Villarreal in the Champions League. The memories of their latest face-off are still fresh.
🏁 FT. Man United lose at Old Trafford to Aston Villa after Bruno Fernandes skies a penalty in the injury time. You couldn't write this stuff.
😭 90+3' Bruno sends it over the bar...
⌚ 90' PENALTY TO UNITED!
⚽ 88' Goal for Villa. It's been coming...
@TheUnitedLink, Twitter: "Deserved goal for Aston Villa. Manchester United have been absolutely shocking today."
Marine-Biol-George, Reddit: "Gotta give credit where credit is due. Astros Villa have played like Manchester United today and Manchester United played like a scared Villa team today. Kudos to Villa. Hope Ole wakes up and gets angry. We need fire not cuddles"
United Hobbit, RedCafe: "Chelsea or City will be dropping points, this could have been a great opportunity for us. But no, we get this insipid dross. Later we will have to watch Liverpool go top probably. Great stuff. Ole is out of his depth as I've long maintained, and taken us as far as he can, and needs to go. Should never have got the contract renewal, should have waited til Xmas, the signs were there. And now Villa have scored. Absolutely terrific stuff. Absolutely pathetic"
⌚ 81' McTominay off for Cavani. United to play with three strikers.
@UnitedPeoplesTV, Twitter: "Cavani you beautiful bastard, knock a winner in and whip your bow out please"
⌚ 79' Cavani is coming on! Took Ole a while...
nichijouuuu, Reddit: "Not sure how Ole gets through almost 80 minutes seeing no goals, bad passing, and only selfish shooting from Greenwood and decides not to make an attacking sub."
⌚ 72' Greenwood attempts another shot from a tight angle. Ronaldo gestures in irritation.
atx58, Reddit: "Greenwood is amazingly selfish. He is an incredible talent but needs to get better vision with the ball"
@nqatpod, Twitter: "Greenwood has taken 97 shots and made 3 passes today"
⌚ 69' Some end-to-end bonanza! De Gea saves Wakins shot around 10 seconds before Greenwood shoots wide to end a promising counter-attack.
⌚ 66' And Maguire is eventually replaced by Lindelof. Ole now has only one sub to change something up front.
RedDevil@84, RedCafe: "Seems like we took ages to get Maguire off.. Maybe Ole had him in his FPL team"
⌚ 63' The definition of desperation:
The Hilton, RedCafe: "Villa are completely outworking us in the second half, pressing so hard. We really should be looking to bypass the press somehow, bring back Fellaini maybe?"
⌚ 59' De Gea's ball to AWB is intercepted, and Villa earn a corner. United are clearly the second-best team on the pitch now.
@UTDkingsley, Twitter: "Sometimes it’s fair for ppl to question our style of play, how many chances have we created for Ronaldo? At least he can run and sweat eh."
⌚ 54' Now, it's Maguire's turn to get treatment. It's only getting worse... He'll play on for now, but Lindelof keeps warming up.
⌚ 53' Probably, the emotions of most Man United fans here:
⌚ 50' Major scare for United! Two Villa forwards somehow forgot to shoot in front of De Gea. Fortunately, both were offside.
chillipowder01, Reddit: "If we keep letting them in like this, we’re gonna get punished. We need to score, and soon."
⌚ 46' Back underway! Here's to a better half from United!
🗣 Here are some supporters' views after the first half.
RepresentativeNo379, Reddit: "I for one think we’re doing okay. Since McT came back, our possessions vastly improved. We had more chances, albeit AV had theirs too. People seem to expect we demolish every team bar Big 4. The reason why EPL is the most watch in the world is competitiveness, the gap between teams is much narrower compared to Liga, Bundesliga, or Ligue 1. If we keep playing like this, our goals will come."
@utdarena, Twitter: "That first half demonstrated why I discuss execution all the time. Both teams had good opportunities but neither executed well. It's an open game and our team defence has let them in a few times whilst we've been much better offensively, aided by how open it is."
Kamran B., The Athletic: "Hard to imagine some these players are professionals. Cannot control the ball or make simple passes without it going out of play. Playing hot potato with a football. And no one is digging anyone out on the pitch when they do it."
✍ Some first-half ratings:
Good: De Gea 7, Greenwood 7
Average: Varane 6, Wan-Bissaka 6, Fred 6, Bruno 6, Pogba 6, Ronaldo 6
Poor: Maguire 5, McTominay 5, Shaw 4
⏳ HALF-TIME! The teams are goalless at the break.
⌚ 45+2' Pogba's header goes inches wide of the goalpost!
Prams35, Reddit: "That was so close! We are ending the half on a high."
⌚ 45' What changes would you make at half-time?
@mufc_shah, Twitter: "The game is crying for Rashford, but Sancho for Fred and Pogba in midfield needed"
⌚ 43' Chance for United! Maguire's header is parried away by Martinez.
⌚ 40' Konsa got the better of AWB in the air and sent a header high from the edge of the six-yard area.
⌚ 36' Meanwhile, the fans are not happy about United's midfield. Tell us something new.
@markgoldbridge, Twitter: "It's not that McTominay and Fred are bad players, it's that if we had two players in there that were title contender quality we'd be so much better. It's just ok, and United need better than that in a starting 11"
ZachMich, Reddit: "Our midfield is a black hole of creativity. McFred is busy but they offer so little going forward. This can't be our solution for the season as we actually have to control the midfield in some games. Ole has to figure something out other than these two"
🔄 34' Dalot coming on for Shaw.
⌚ 33' Shaw down again with the same issue, apparently. A sub is almost inevitable.
@MrTomMcDermott, Twitter: "Shaw looks like he’s struggling. In general, #MUFC build-up play quite slow."
⌚ 31' Greenwood's cross to Ronaldo in a promising position was blocked.
Ramnik D., The Athletic: "How many blocks have villa made here....its starting to feel like one of those games ....a bit of composure needed"
⌚ 26' Shaw is down injured but ready to play on after treatment. Not the best day for him so far.
stankbeast91 (Reddit): Maguire and shaw look really off the pace compared to how they finished last season. Not been very impressed with them so far.
⌚ 23' Maguire's sloppy pass to De Gea leads to a massive chance for Watkins, but David saves. United need to focus!
LARulz, RedCafe: "Maguire has done some dodgy back passes a couple games now"
⌚ 18' Greenwood arrived in the box, but his shot was easily tamed by Martinez.
Water Melon, RedCafe: "Shaw needs to switch on, Mason should be less selfish."
⏰ 16' Aston Villa with the best moment of the game so far! Targett inexplicably misses just from a few metres.
hashmude, Reddit: "Luke Shaw shocking twice in that move. Also doesn’t close down the cross a minute earlier. Bad start"
⌚ 11' Ronaldo tries a long-range shot but misses.
SonofIndia: "F**k Ronny was surprised by how much space he got Bamboozed himself"
👓 10' Well, that's a weird stat:
⌚ 7' Greenwood's run is stopped by the assistant referee, he's off-side. An uncharacteristically good start so far.
Prado98, Reddit: "Pretty sure the lads got a good hairdryer for starting the league game slow. Clearly visible the intensity has been upped a notch"
⌚ 2' United start brightly, Fernandes hits the ball well over the bar after a good Shaw cut-back.
@utdarena, Twitter: "That Bruno chance came from our aggression. Mason's switch to Shaw, Pogba's return to Shaw and then Shaw's drive and cross. It was all aggressive and resulted in a good chance. This is what we need."
⌚ 1' We're underway!
👉 McTominay also spoke ahead of the game: "We need to begin the game well. That’s not quite been there in the last three or four games, something like that. It’s important to get off to a good start against Villa, to set our standpoint, with a high tempo in the team."
🗣 Solskjaer speaks about Cavani's return to the squad. We might see him for the second time this season:
"He is an exceptional striker, finisher, his movement in the box. Tight games they are always decided in the boxes so to have another striker is good."
📄 In case you missed it, here are the starting line-ups:
Man United: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw, Maguire, Varane, Fred, McTominay, Fernandes, Pogba, Greenwood, Ronaldo
Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Mings, Hause, Cash, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Ramsey, Targett, Ings, Watkins
👋 Hello and welcome back to Old Trafford! Today, Man United are taking on Aston Villa in the Premier League. The Red Devils are still undefeated in that competition but the pressure is on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a defeat to West Ham in the Carabao Cup. Let's hope United bounce back today!
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