Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD: Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester United

MOTD: Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester United

By on December 20, 2014

Manchester United have raised plenty of questions over the season, and the majority of them they have answered. Will they ever fix their defensive woes? Mostly, at this point. Are they back in contention for a top four finish? Certainly. One more recent raised, though, they wouldn’t have wanted answered unit the last day of the season, but in the course of a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa, everything was seen that all but confirmed, no, Manchester United won’t be winning the title this season.

It now seems a ridiculous question to have brought up. Title winners? Surely not the Manchester United side that lost 5-3 to Leicester City just a few months ago. And though they featured an almost completely different starting eleven today, they didn’t look up to par with the likes of Manchester City or Chelsea today, either. Louis Van Gaal’s side were all set up for a classic United comeback – having equalized early in the second half then went up a man as Gabriel Agbonlahor was controversially sent off – but struggled to break down Villa. They lacked the attacking impotence to score a go-ahead goal.

However, none of this means United can’t be a title winning side in the future. They were disappointing today, losing a chance at seven consecutive wins, but then again, were missing Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind, and Marouane Fellaini due to injury, while Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria both returned from injuries yet didn’t look near their best. But in terms of the here and now, the Red Devils simply seem to unstable for the challenge, and already seven points back due to the dropped points today. Even if United come close towards the end of the title race, this draw could be a costly loss of points.

Yet, while Van Gaal rambled on about how the match could cost United the title, it will do him a lot better not focusing on the title. So far, their goal has only been to make it back into the top four and the moment they looked higher they have been brought back down again. Van Gaal’s focus should simply be on winning week in and week out, no matter the result at the end of the season. It seems, with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur’s recent troubles, that a top four finish is United’s to lose anyway. United were slow in playing out of the back, and looked out of ideas on the attack. In the first half especially they struggled to fashion many chances, and Villa punished them for it. Eighteen minutes in Christian Benteke had far to much time at the far post from a crossed free-kick from the left to jinx and turn, and eventually found space to curl a wonderful effort into the top left corner in off the post that left even the on form David De Gea hapless.

United saw most of the ball on either side of the half as well, yet once again found themselves vulnerable at the back, and forty-eight minutes in Benteke forced De Gea into a brilliant save to tip over his far post header from just a few yards out. Back at the other end it wasn’t much better, with Brad Guzan managing a fairly easy parry after Robin Van Persie was slipped in down the left side of the box by Wayne Rooney. It was no surprise when Falcao did find the scoresheet with a sweetly struck near post header from Ashley Young’s cross considering his sides possession stats – they saw sixty-five percent of the ball by the end of the game – yet United found themselves frustrated the majority of the time. Van Persie came close with an overhead kick from the rebound of a cross, but realistically didn’t have that good of a chance at scoring.

Agbonlahor was then sent off, harshly, for a fifty-fifty challenge with Young, and Di Maria was brought on. This should have fixed the problems they had going forward, only to find Di Maria cutting inside almost every time he saw the ball down the right, and with no options could only fire almost pathetic low bouncers at Guzan. On three separate occasions that happened in just five minutes. United were frustrated, though that may ultimately define their season in which they seem at times to have the quality to win the league, but have been frustrated by injuries that have hampered their chances.
Man of the Match:

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.