Man United were held to a 2-2 draw by Aston Villa in their Premier League game on Saturday.
The Red Devils surrendered a two-goal in the last 15 minutes and failed to get their first league game win of 2022.
Ralf Rangnick put out an interesting starting XI and kept tinkering with his formation, putting out what looked like a 4-3-3 shape.
Man United’s initial formation vs Aston Villa, January 15, 2022
4-3-3: De Gea, Dalot, Lindelof, Varane, Telles, Matic, Fred, Bruno, Greenwood, Elanga, Cavani
Rangnick gave a surprising start to Anthony Elanga, with the youngster slotting the left-wing spot. Edinson Cavani lead the line with Mason Greenwood on the right. Bruno Fernandes and Fred were both quite advanced in midfield, getting the ball forward – while Nemanja Matic protected the backline.
This 4-3-3 formation worked quite well actually. United controlled the game well in the first 70 minutes, scoring two goals and creating a number of chances.
Man United’s formation towards the end vs Aston Villa, January 15, 2022
4-3-3: De Gea, Dalot, Lindelof, Varane, Telles, Matic, Fred, Van de Beek, Lingard, Sancho, Cavani
Rangnick was pleased enough with what he saw from his players that he took his time in making substitutions. Indeed, the first substitution came in the 78th minute when Jadon Sancho replaced Elanga – just after Villa had pulled one back.
That didn’t really do much to influence the game as Villa scored their second minutes later. In a ‘last roll of the dice’, Rangnick introduced Donny van de Beek and Jesse Lingard with 2 minutes remaining. Donny seemed to occupy Bruno’s position after coming on, while Lingard played towards the right-wing.
The subs didn’t really have much time to make an impact and were unable to get a late winner for United.
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