Christian Eriksen was warming up during the interval, pinging passes with Anthony Elanga, and the second-half was barely 10 minutes old when Erik ten Hag concisely collared him as he began his warm-up.
That signalled Eriksen's entrance was inevitable sooner or later and it came in the 61st minute with United 2-1 down. They won 4-2 and it is not a coincidence their performance ameliorated with the Dane on the pitch.
United's attack was unbalanced with two left wingers and two No.10s, a quartet underpinned by the limited axis of Scott McTominay and Fred. The latter made way for Eriksen.
Also read: Ten Hag outlines what Garnacho has to do to be a regular for United
In the 15th minute, McTominay failed to find Marcus Rashford with a pass Eriksen could play with his eyes closed and Fred passed up umpteen chances to play in an onside Rashford. When the ball was played, Rashford was off.
McTominay improved next to Eriksen over a four-game winning run against Liverpool, Southampton, Leicester and Arsenal and did so again on Thursday night. A striker for the United junior teams, McTominay still has the licence to supplement the attack and smacked the crossbar before his deftly cushioned volley killed the contest against Aston Villa.
"Do I look sharp?" Eriksen dryly enquired when he was asked a silly question at a press conference last month. At the same gathering, Eriksen chuckled when a reporter reminded him some viewed Eriksen's status as a squad member but clarified he was not one of them. "Good shout!" Eriksen chuckled.
The only occasions when Erik ten Hag has benched Eriksen have been to protect him. He appeared weary in San Sebastian and Birmingham last week, so a view from the dugout for the rematch with Villa was advisable.
Twice this season Eriksen has started on the bench only to come off it to convert games into wins for United. At the age of 30, he has offset the failure to extradite Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona through his lock-picking expertise.
If the choice was between Eriksen and De Jong from the outset, the starstruck demographic of the United fanbase would have opted for De Jong. De Jong wanted to stay in Catalonia and his fiancee was unreceptive to moving to Manchester yet United have a worrying form for recruiting players not completely invested in joining the club. Eriksen was.
So was Casemiro, although at the time it was easy to deride United for pursuing another ageing and garlanded name who would have them over a barrel. United touched base with Casemiro shortly after the Champions League final and were initially convinced he would continue to embark on open-top bus parades in Madrid.
Casemiro spoke with the United football director John Murtough after the generational nadir at Brentford to reassure he was committed to joining United. Since his start in Cyprus, he has ceased being bracketed with Bastian Schweinsteiger and his rest against Villa reiterated his influence. Casemiro and Eriksen will start at Fulham on Sunday.
So will Lisandro Martinez. One of the Argentine's underrated strengths is his knack for sensing danger and he would not have beckoned Ollie Watkins through like a guest at a house party as Harry Maguire did. Maguire was caught so flush on his heels Diogo Dalot outsprinted him to end up breathing down Watkins's neck.
Lisandro Martinez: as popular outside the ground as he is inside #mufc pic.twitter.com/iSA7FdoBFC
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst)
At 11.20pm, Martinez was signing as many autographs and posing for as many selfies as possible in the car park behind the Stretford End. As popular outside the ground as he is inside, Martinez was generous with his time.
Few players better symbolise the reconnection between supporters and club than Martinez, who did so literally with one fan in the celebrations at Chelsea. It is a testament to his quality and character he has not allowed the absence of Raphael Varane to derail him and Martinez has excelled alongside Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
The vertebrae of Varane, Martinez, Casemiro and Eriksen is United's most important and it showed for an hour against Villa. With the introduction of three of them, the game was taken away from Villa. Eriksen certainly looked sharp.
READ MORE:
