A new era for Aston Villa began with a reminder for their opponents that rebuilding under a new manager is rarely a straightforward process. Unai Emery’s first game in charge brought a famous and fully deserved win that ended Manchester United’s nine-game unbeaten run, punctured the sense of progress that Erik ten Hag has built of late and inflicted United’s first Premier League defeat at Villa Park since 1995.
It was after that game – which also finished 3-1 – that Alan Hansen claimed Alex Ferguson’s side would “win nothing with kids”. That infamously proved to be an overly pessimistic assessment but, 27 years later, it would be hard to be too critical of this United performance. Even their goal was scored by a Villa player, with Luke Shaw’s effort deflecting in off Jacob Ramsey to offer brief hope of a fightback that never arrived.
From Villa, this was the type of disciplined, organised and highly effective display that Emery has built a career upon and may be exactly what is needed to resurrect their season and stave off the threat of relegation. Leon Bailey’s crisp strike and Lucas Digne’s wonderful free kick established an early two-goal lead that was momentarily halved on the cusp of half time, only to be restored by Ramsey after the break and then comfortably defended.
United’s bad start began when Victor Lindelof took Ten Hag’s pressing game to the extreme and found himself caught too far upfield, harrying Ollie Watkins without troubling to win back possession. That left Lisandro Martinez exposed in a two-on-one battle with Ramsey and Bailey. One simple pass into the gap left by Lindelof sent the Jamaica international through and a low finish from a narrowing angle was moving too fast for even David de Gea’s reflexes.
After just seven minutes, it was the best possible start to the Emery era and it was about to get better still. Another dangerous Villa attack was ended with excessive force by Shaw’s late challenge on Ramsey. A yellow card would not be the only punishment. From the resulting free kick and on his first start since September, Digne whipped a left-footed effort over the United wall and inside De Gea’s right-hand post.
The atmosphere inside Villa Park was not dissimilar to that of a fortnight ago, in the 4-0 win over Brentford immediately after Steven Gerrard’s departure and with Aaron Danks assuming caretaker charge, when they went three up inside a quarter of an hour. The free-spirited nature of the performance was embodied by goalkeeper Emi Martinez indulging in a spot of headed keepy-uppies.
Except the energy that was powering this dream start gradually ebbed away as the half dragged on and United found greater composure. Repeated attempts to make the most of captain Cristiano Ronaldo’s aerial ability failed, other than one Martinez save with his legs. The Villa goalkeeper was called into action again by Alejandro Garnacho who, after scoring his first United goal in San Sebastian this week, tried at scoring his second from a narrow angle.
United made good on this growing momentum just before the break when Ramsey only half-cleared his lines, inviting Shaw to speculate from range. The shot hit Ramsey and changed course, looping out of goalkeeper Martinez’s reach and in. It was fortunate from United’s point of view but arguably what their recovery had deserved. All that hard work would be wasted, however, not long into the second half.
Ten Hag’s defence was once again found wanting and, this time, caught cold in transition. Lisandro Martinez’s misplaced header set Villa away. Watkins was not in much of a rush down United’s right but Lindelof – perhaps having learnt his lesson on the opening goal – was reluctant to close him down. By the time the Villa forward had made his way to the United box, Ramsey was waiting unmarked on the edge of it.
A simple finish, high into the net, restored Villa’s two-goal advantage and made Ramsey only the fourth player in Premier League history to score, assist and also put one in his own net all in the same game.
He had United to thank for that. The total failure to track his run stemmed from Diogo Dalot being caught up the pitch, which led Casemiro doubling up on Watkins with Lindelof and Villa always having a man to spare.
Ten Hag attempted to change things, introducing Anthony Martial as part of a triple substitution, but the returning forward was more often seen in central midfield.
That summed up a fractured, disjointed United display and a defeat that takes some of the shine off their improvement. United were poor but every new managerial tenure has its ups and downs, of course. Emery starts on a high but for Ten Hag, after all the recent optimism, this was a low.
