Aston Villa 2 Manchester United 3 | Tactical Analysis

Manchester United left Villa Park with a win in a game that exploded into life as half time approached. A game in which Lambert was initially the more tactically astute manager but his side were unable to hold onto their lead with Ferguson, as he has so often done, making a very useful substitution to alter the dynamic of the game.

Line Ups

Paul Lambert made one change to the side which had defeated Sunderland away. With Bennett out, Enda Stevens came in for his Premier League debut at full back.

The Villa side was set up broadly as 4-4-1-1 with Stephen Ireland sitting in behind Christian Benteke.

The entire Aston Villa starting eleven were all under the age of 30 with seven players starting under the age of 23.

Manchester United made two changes to the side which defeated Arsenal last week. With Evans out injured, Smalling made his first Premier League start of the season. In midfield, Scholes made his first start after five games on the sidelines with Cleverly making way.

Possession vs Counter Attack

This game saw a classic battle between one team content to sit deep and break on the counter attack and another side who wanted to control possession and set the tempo of the game.

Manchester United dominated possession throughout but early on their passing lacked any sort of urgency and was quite often sloppy. The play was taking place in front of Aston Villa with little movement in behind the Villa defence.

The team were too content to play centrally and their play generally lacked width. With Young cutting in from the left and Evra not really offering a consistent threat on the left, it was incumbent upon Valencia and Rafael to provide width on the right. When they received the ball, both sought to do so with Rafael’s overlapping runs enabling him to get in behind the Villa defence to provide crosses. This occurred infrequently though and generally Villa stopped their opponent from playing through the middle and were relatively untroubled by Manchester United.

It was telling that in the first half, neither Rooney or Van Persie were really involved for Manchester United. Both were well marshalled by the Villa defence. Part of the issue was that neither would attempting runs in behind the Villa rearguard. Both are comfortable coming short to link play. Recognising the need for an alternative dimension in attack, Ferguson brought on Hernandez for Young at half time.

The reorganised Man Utd line up saw Hernandez as the central striker with Van Persie behind and Rooney on the left although there was scope for the latter pairing to alternate positions.

From Villa’s perspective, The defence and midfield combined well to limit United opportunities. This was a major test for such an inexperienced side and the two full backs generally coped well. The attacking trio of Ireland, Benteke and Weimann were providing Manchester United with problems on the break and their play could have created more scoring opportunities for Villa had it not been for wrong pass selection or misplaced passes. Villa’s first attempt on goal did not arrive until the 35^th minute.

The home side passed the ball well enough but probably allowed Man Utd too much possession. The physical demands of pursuing an opponent with the ball for long periods may have played a role in Villa’s struggles late on.

Midfield Pairing

Part of the issue for United is that Ferguson favours a combination of a passer and a runner as his midfield pairing. With Anderson out of sorts and Fletcher still coming back to full fitness following a prolonged illness, his central options are limited. It meant that the side started against Villa with two passers in Carrick and Scholes. The pairing coped well against Villa’s midfield three with Rooney moving deeper on occasion to level the numerical battle.

A combination of two passers can lead to problems against more aggressive sides who press and play in the midfield area at a high tempo. Villa did not do this  preferring to sit off Man Utd and only press when they entered Villa territory.

Villa instead sought to counter attack at pace and often through the centre of the pitch with Carrick and Scholes both caught ahead of the ball.  Neither is particularly fast and it enabled Villa to create chances, two of which resulted in their goals both of which were scored by Wiemann.

Villa Goals

The opening goal arrived when Man Utd lost possession at the edge of the Villa penalty area. Both Scholes and Carrick were participating in the attack and were immediately caught wrong side of the ball.

The ball was played wide right to Benteke who was perhaps a little fortunate in initially getting the break of the ball of Smalling which enable him to control it. Thereafter Benteke displayed his strength to bully Smalling at the goal line before cutting the ball back for the on rushing Weimann to score.

Aston Villa 1st Goal vs Man Utd

The graphic above shows Carrick and Scholes both caught ahead of the ball and unable to get back in time to catch Weimann.

The second Villa goal highlighted the lack of defensive cover from Man Utd’s midfield again. Scholes initially gave away possession in the build up. The graphic below shows a clear picture or four Aston Villa players attacking four Manchester United players. Both Carrick and Scholes are too high and have been bypassed in this phase of play.

Aston Villa Second Goal vs Man Utd

Weimann converted the low cross / shot from Agbonlahor to give Villa a 2-0 lead in the 49th minute.
Next Page: Manchester United Comeback strong – Hernandez changes game (click on page number below).