2023-2024 EPL Round 24 Aston Villa vs Manchester United

This is a showdown between two teams competing for a spot in the Europa League and possibly even the Champions League.

Just about a month and a half ago, 

these two teams faced off at Old Trafford, where Aston Villa took a comfortable 2-0 lead within the first 20 minutes of the match.

However, Manchester United staged a remarkable comeback in the second half, scoring three goals to secure a comeback victory.

As for the upcoming match, it's challenging to predict. 

Both teams have shown their strengths and weaknesses, and anything can happen on the day of the game. It's sure to be an exciting and closely contested battle between two competitive sides.

 

The starting lineups for both teams were within a reasonably predictable range.

Both teams were missing key center-backs.

Aston Villa had Pau Torres return from injury but seemed not fully fit as he remained on the bench.

Manchester United, on the other hand, couldn't field recently recovered Lisandro Martinez due to another injury setback.

Clement Lenglet and Harry Maguire filled in the respective vacancies for their teams.

 

The early stages of the game were dominated by Manchester United.

The front four players - Garnacho, Rashford, Hojlund, and Bruno Fernandes - applied pressure right from Aston Villa's defensive buildup, which proved to be quite effective.

Particularly, they pressed aggressively in the left defensive zone of Aston Villa, targeting Martinez the goalkeeper, Langley, and Moreno, leading to several attempts after winning back possession, including shots on goal.

Conversely, Villa struggled to progress with the ball.

Even when they managed to break the press, they failed to capitalize on their opportunities, often allowing United to counterattack behind their high defensive line.

Amidst this, Manchester United quickly scored the opening goal.

 

In a corner kick situation for Manchester United, Maguire succeeded with a header, and the ball dropping in front of the goal was immediately volleyed by Hojlund into the net.

It's a great upward trend.

Breaking the streak of 14 league games without scoring and without assists was in the previous Aston Villa match, where Hojlund has now scored in a remarkable five consecutive games. (+2 assists)

He certainly seems to have regained confidence and goal-scoring sense.

This goal, too, was scored with good positioning and a bold finish.

During times when he was struggling to score, there was a high possibility of him misdirecting the ball in such situations or getting blocked in the shooting route by taking an unnecessary touch. But indeed, confidence is key for a striker.

I only hope he can maintain this form consistently.

 

Manchester United seemed to start the game on a positive note, scoring an early goal and appearing to control the match comfortably. However, the pace of the game quickly shifted to Aston Villa's favor.

Aston Villa began to thwart Manchester United's high press.

Initially when Villa built up their play, Manchester United's primary objective was to prevent the ball from reaching the midfield duo of Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz.

Then, when Villa progressed the ball to the flank through Lenglet (indicated by the blue arrow), Manchester United's two frontmen, Bruno Fernandes and Hojlund, would press Lengley and Moreno respectively (indicated by the red arrows) to disrupt their play.

At this moment, with Fernandes and Hojlund engaging Lenglet and Moreno, Kamara and Luiz were left free to drop deeper and receive the ball (indicated by the yellow arrows).

They would then quickly turn and either dribble forward or play a penetrating pass.

 

The reason Kamara and Luiz were able to drop deeper and turn to move forward was due to Manchester United's defensive line.

Facing a fast-paced attacking side like Aston Villa with many quick forwards, Manchester United couldn't push their defensive line too high.

With Lisandro absent and Varane not in his prime form, despite Maguire having strengths in forward defending, the risk of leaving space behind was too significant.

For this reason, Manchester United couldn't afford to push their defensive line up, and with the attacking players also pressing high up the pitch, it naturally created more space between the offense and defense.

As Aston Villa penetrated through the initial press and advanced, Manchester United found themselves constantly retreating, inevitably allowing more attacking opportunities for the opposition.

 

The same pattern continued into the second half.

As the second half progressed, the substitution of Luke Shaw for Lindelof on the left wingback position highlighted this issue even more.

Lindelof, not accustomed to this position, found it challenging to contain Villa's winger Bailey.

Fortunately, the substitution was made as a precautionary measure rather than due to Shaw being injured.

One question arises here: Did Ten Hag really give such tactical instructions?

Ten Hag is known for his aggressive pressing, but it's puzzling to see him simultaneously employ both high pressing and a deep defensive line.
In theory, it's not entirely flawed. If the defense holds firm regardless of midfield penetration, they can regain possession and launch counterattacks with long passes to the already advanced attackers.

Moreover, with shorter distances for the forwards to cover, they can conserve energy. 

However, the opponent can exploit the wide spaces behind the defensive line since they push up.

However, there's a significant risk involved in ensuring the defense staunchly prevents conceding goals for this strategy to succeed.

It's unclear whether Ten Hag took a gamble in this regard.

 

In the end, frustration loomed large.

Despite Manchester United's defense, especially Onana's superb saves, barely holding off Villa's relentless attacks in the second half, they were conceding no goals.

Particularly today, Onana's performance could be considered the best he has shown in a Manchester United shirt so far.

However, they couldn't stop everything, and eventually, they conceded the equalizing goal to Douglas Luiz from a corner kick situation initiated by Aston Villa.

Similar to Hojlund's goal, Luiz capitalized on an unmarked chance right in front of the goal, taking the shot and succeeding, even adding a provocative celebration to crown the moment.

 

One reason why Aston Villa found it easy to attack, as mentioned earlier, was the wide gap between Manchester United's offense and defense. 

Additionally, the midfielders and wing-backs aggressively pushed forward, consistently creating numerical superiority in their attacks.

Up front, Ollie Watkins tied up the center-backs, while left-winger Jacob Ramsey penetrated the box almost like a second striker, with Bailey and McGinn supplying final passes or dribbling into the box from underneath.

The vacant spaces on both sides were aggressively filled by the wing-backs, Moreno and Cash, almost functioning like wingers, constantly fluctuating in their energy levels, which raises concerns about whether they were truly fit for such demands.

Furthermore, midfielders Kamara and Luiz frequently joined the attack without hesitation.

With nearly all players contributing to the attack, and with Manchester United's midfield widely spread out, it became too easy for Villa to bring the ball into the box.

Naturally, this widened the space behind, but Manchester United's forwards had expended a lot of energy in pressing high during the first half, and Villa's goalkeeper, Martinez, possessing a wide covering range, was able to cope with it.

 

After conceding, Manchester United made a substitution, replacing Rashford with McTominay, effectively operating with almost two strikers, McTominay and Hojlund, while aggressively spreading the ball forward and seeking opportunities.

Then, beyond the 80th minute, their efforts paid off.

As Villa caught their breath and dropped their defensive line, Manchester United finally pushed their defensive line high.

Varane, having advanced near the halfway line, lofted a pass to the right, where a high positioned Mainoo received it, and, after controlling the ball, Dalot precisely struck the ball into the box with a one-touch cross.

The recipient of this ball was the substitute, McTominay, who successfully headed the ball into the net, putting Manchester United ahead once again.

 

After scoring, Manchester United reinforced their defense and went into a phase of consolidation, successfully preserving their lead to secure the victory.

Honestly, in terms of performance, Aston Villa was the better team. Manchester United didn't display a particularly strong performance, but they managed to win with clear decisiveness and solid defense, especially Onana's remarkable saves.

Aston Villa created numerous opportunities, even good ones, but they lacked the finishing touch and were thwarted by the absence of decisiveness and Onana's saves. Particularly disappointing was Watkins, Villa's top scorer responsible for leading their attack, who had a subdued performance today.

With this victory, Manchester United remains unbeaten in six official matches and secures enough points to surpass the Europa League qualification threshold.

On the other hand, Aston Villa conceded fourth place to Tottenham, dropping to fifth, and with the gap with Manchester United in sixth reduced to just five points, the tension for European qualification intensified.