When Cristiano Ronaldo lost his captain’s armband early in the first half, it was a basic wardrobe malfunction.
But somehow, it seemed a touch symbolic - under his on-field leadership, Manchester United were ragged, regularly ripped apart on the counter-attack and running out of ideas well before the final whistle. Considering this season’s tantrums, to give Ronaldo the captaincy in the first place was a slightly bizarre decision but it summed up Erik ten Hag’s day - a day of wrong calls, starting Donny van de Beek being Exhibit A.
But while this was not the United manager’s finest hour, his deficiencies should take nothing away from a quite exhilarating Aston Villa performance and a quite wonderful start to the Unai Emery era. And at the heart of it was a player who will not be in Gareth Southgate’s squad when it is announced on Thursday but is surely one for future tournaments.
Jacob Ramsey’s performance - in which an own-goal was sandwiched by an assist and a sumptuous Villa third - was full of intelligence. Intelligent running, intelligent passing, intelligent pressing. Like so many, Ramsey is a player who is at his most effective when he keeps it simple, his calmness evident in the straightforward, incisive pass that sent Leon Bailey through for Villa’s opener.
It was a sweet, arrowing finish from the Jamaican but surely the central defensive partnership of Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof is one that will not be featuring too regularly going forward. They were not culpable for Villa’s second - that was Luke Shaw, his Sunday League sliding foul on the smooth-running Ramsey giving Lucas Digne the platform to showcase his dead-ball prowess from 20 yards.
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Whatever advice Emiliano Martinez seemed to give Digne paid off as David de Gea was comprehensively beaten by the left-footed curler. Predictably, perhaps, Villa settled back on their unlikely start and Ronaldo had already missed a headed sitter when Shaw’s hit took a scoring diversion off Ramsey.
With the visitors in the ascendancy in terms of possession, it looked certain that the second half would be about home resistance. But Ten Hag made no changes at half-time and Ramsey soon landed the blow that proved too much for United to recover from.
Ollie Watkins’ selfless running was a constant theme of this contest and after getting the better of Lindelof, he rolled the most inviting of passes across the penalty area. Without breaking elegant stride, Ramsey rapped it right-footed into the roof of the net - and the Villa Park roof came off with it.
This was Villa’s first home league win over United in 27 years, ending a 23-game run and if he did not already know it, Emery is now fully aware that he has inherited a squad that has - for one reason or another - been punching well below its weight for some time.
If he is half-decent, which we know he is, Emery will make a good fist of this gig. As for Ten Hag, he started making his changes after the horse had bolted and his substitutions had little effect.
In fact, United’s afternoon was captured by a wrestling match between Tyrone Mings and Ronaldo. It was messy, inelegant and with little purpose. It was unlike Villa’s performance and it was unlike Ramsey’s performance. The Emery era at Villa Park is up and running.
