Match report/highlight: Aston villa vs Manchester United
Adnan Januzaj justified his recall to Louis van
Gaal’s starting XI on Friday by scoring the
only goal in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over
Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League.
The Reds are now unbeaten in 20 top-flight
matches at Villa Park in a run that stretches
back to September 1996. The victory also
means United have tallied six points from six
available following two tricky opening fixtures,
five points more than the total registered at
this stage of the last campaign.
The match was notably moved to Friday night
due to a heavily-policed event in Birmingham
on Saturday and, although many fans were late
to the stadium following traffic issues, most
supporters at Villa Park appeared to enjoy the
novelty of the change in schedule judging by
the raucous atmosphere.
Van Gaal made just one change to his starting
XI by selecting Januzaj in place of Ashley
Young, with the Belgian forward playing in the
hole behind Wayne Rooney, while new signing
Memphis Depay performed out wide on the left,
a position in which he excelled for PSV
Eindhoven.
United created the first chance on 15 minutes
as Memphis hit an inswinging free-kick that
evaded all Villa defenders and bounced
towards Morgan Schneiderlin at the back post,
where the French midfielder shaped his body to
glance an awkward header wide of Brad
Guzan’s goal.
The Villa goalkeeper was called into action
again moments later as he beat Memphis to an
important 50/50 challenge. The Dutchman was
active throughout the first half and created
another opportunity for himself on 22 minutes
when he drifted inside from the left wing to
exchange passes with Rooney before hitting a
deflected shot wide of goal.
United dominated possession in the opening
half an hour and deservedly broke the deadlock
from an excellent passing move. It began with
Januzaj switching the ball to the left and
ended with the recalled Belgian latching onto
Juan Mata’s through-ball to calmly round
Micah Richards and slot a deflected finish into
the bottom corner, vindicating the manager’s
decision to start him at Villa Park. It was
Adnan’s first competitive goal since the 4-0
win over Newcastle on 5 April 2014.
Neither manager made half-time changes but
Villa played with much more urgency after the
break and could have levelled when Jordan
Ayew pounced on an unusually wayward pass
from Mata and wastefully blasted a shot high
over Romero’s goal. The Argentinian
goalkeeper was then forced into his first real
save on 55 minutes as he impressively grasped
both hands around Gabriel Agbonlahor’s
powerful header.
With Villa in the ascendancy and the home fans
in fine voice, Tim Sherwood intervened and
sent Rudy Gestede onto the pitch in place of
former Manchester City midfielder Scott
Sinclair. Van Gaal also made two changes on
the hour as Ander Herrera and Bastian
Schweinsteiger came on for Januzaj and
Carrick, perhaps with a view to regaining
control of an increasingly frantic match.
Memphis could, and perhaps should, have
scored his first competitive goal for the club
when he was put through by another
delightfully accurate Mata pass, but the Dutch
forward’s first-time shot flew just wide of
Guzan’s left post before Ashley Young took his
place on 82 minutes to the familiar sound of
boos he receives at Villa Park, his old
stomping ground.
In the end, despite Villa’s late push for an
equaliser, United held on to another relatively
straightforward win that will boost the players'
confidence ahead of Tuesday’s UEFA
Champions League play-off match against
Club Brugge, an occasion that is of great
importance to the club this season.
MATCH DETAILS
Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Richards, Clark,
Amavi, Veretout (Sanchez 77'), Gueye,
Westwood, J.Ayew, Agbonlahor, Sinclair
(Gestede 59'). Subs: Baker, Richardson, Hutton,
Sanchez, Kozak, Bunn.
Booked: Ayew, Gueye
United: Romero, Darmian, Smalling, Blind,
Shaw, Carrick (Schweinsteiger 60'),
Schneiderlin, Mata, Januzaj (Herrera 60'),
Memphis (Young 82'), Rooney: Subs:
Johnstone, McNair, Chicharito, Valencia.
Booked: Herrera, Darmian
Match Reaction
Louis van Gaal: “I am very happy that we won.
We started the competition with a win at home
and a win away. I think the key for this season
is to win more away games and I think we are
capable of doing that.”
Adnan Januzaj: “It felt good to get the goal
because I've not had a game for a long time
and my fitness is not so good, so I'm happy to
score the winner for the team. I hope to have
more games and score more goals.”
Daley Blind: “It was a real team performance,
especially off the ball. We created some
chances and could have scored more, but we
didn’t give anything away and won 1-0. Three
points are the most important thing, so again
I’m happy with the team."
Man of the Match: Juan Mata
That sumptuous pass to play in Januzaj for the
goal was classic Mata: vision and precision.
That's why he collected 50 per cent of fans'
votes on Twitter, ahead of the again impressive
Chris Smalling (29%) and match-winner
Januzaj (21%).
Three Match Facts
1. It's now 20 games unbeaten in the league at
Aston Villa. We just love visiting Villa Park!
2. United are top of the league – again. But as
Juan Mata says: "At this stage it means
nothing."
3. It's only the second time under Louis van
Gaal that United have kept back-to-back clean
sheets and won – we did it against Sunderland
and Newcastle earlier in 2015.
PLAYERS ON TWITTER
Ashley Young @youngy18
Good team effort for the win and clean sheet.
Thanks to all the fans that came, I know the
traffic coming down made it a long trip!
Juan Mata @juanmata8
Coming back to Manchester with three points!
Good way to celebrate your birthday
@AnderHerrera
Bastian Schweinsteiger @BSchweinsteiger
Second game, second victory. Come on, Red
Devils! #mufc
Matteo Darmian @DarmianOfficial
Going back to Manchester with another victory!
Really appreciate a huge support of #mufc
fans!!
Memphis Depay @Memphis
2 games 2 wins thanks for the support #mufc
supporters. Looking forward to Tuesday!
Download highlight here
Gaal’s starting XI on Friday by scoring the
only goal in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over
Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League.
The Reds are now unbeaten in 20 top-flight
matches at Villa Park in a run that stretches
back to September 1996. The victory also
means United have tallied six points from six
available following two tricky opening fixtures,
five points more than the total registered at
this stage of the last campaign.
The match was notably moved to Friday night
due to a heavily-policed event in Birmingham
on Saturday and, although many fans were late
to the stadium following traffic issues, most
supporters at Villa Park appeared to enjoy the
novelty of the change in schedule judging by
the raucous atmosphere.
Van Gaal made just one change to his starting
XI by selecting Januzaj in place of Ashley
Young, with the Belgian forward playing in the
hole behind Wayne Rooney, while new signing
Memphis Depay performed out wide on the left,
a position in which he excelled for PSV
Eindhoven.
United created the first chance on 15 minutes
as Memphis hit an inswinging free-kick that
evaded all Villa defenders and bounced
towards Morgan Schneiderlin at the back post,
where the French midfielder shaped his body to
glance an awkward header wide of Brad
Guzan’s goal.
The Villa goalkeeper was called into action
again moments later as he beat Memphis to an
important 50/50 challenge. The Dutchman was
active throughout the first half and created
another opportunity for himself on 22 minutes
when he drifted inside from the left wing to
exchange passes with Rooney before hitting a
deflected shot wide of goal.
United dominated possession in the opening
half an hour and deservedly broke the deadlock
from an excellent passing move. It began with
Januzaj switching the ball to the left and
ended with the recalled Belgian latching onto
Juan Mata’s through-ball to calmly round
Micah Richards and slot a deflected finish into
the bottom corner, vindicating the manager’s
decision to start him at Villa Park. It was
Adnan’s first competitive goal since the 4-0
win over Newcastle on 5 April 2014.
Neither manager made half-time changes but
Villa played with much more urgency after the
break and could have levelled when Jordan
Ayew pounced on an unusually wayward pass
from Mata and wastefully blasted a shot high
over Romero’s goal. The Argentinian
goalkeeper was then forced into his first real
save on 55 minutes as he impressively grasped
both hands around Gabriel Agbonlahor’s
powerful header.
With Villa in the ascendancy and the home fans
in fine voice, Tim Sherwood intervened and
sent Rudy Gestede onto the pitch in place of
former Manchester City midfielder Scott
Sinclair. Van Gaal also made two changes on
the hour as Ander Herrera and Bastian
Schweinsteiger came on for Januzaj and
Carrick, perhaps with a view to regaining
control of an increasingly frantic match.
Memphis could, and perhaps should, have
scored his first competitive goal for the club
when he was put through by another
delightfully accurate Mata pass, but the Dutch
forward’s first-time shot flew just wide of
Guzan’s left post before Ashley Young took his
place on 82 minutes to the familiar sound of
boos he receives at Villa Park, his old
stomping ground.
In the end, despite Villa’s late push for an
equaliser, United held on to another relatively
straightforward win that will boost the players'
confidence ahead of Tuesday’s UEFA
Champions League play-off match against
Club Brugge, an occasion that is of great
importance to the club this season.
MATCH DETAILS
Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Richards, Clark,
Amavi, Veretout (Sanchez 77'), Gueye,
Westwood, J.Ayew, Agbonlahor, Sinclair
(Gestede 59'). Subs: Baker, Richardson, Hutton,
Sanchez, Kozak, Bunn.
Booked: Ayew, Gueye
United: Romero, Darmian, Smalling, Blind,
Shaw, Carrick (Schweinsteiger 60'),
Schneiderlin, Mata, Januzaj (Herrera 60'),
Memphis (Young 82'), Rooney: Subs:
Johnstone, McNair, Chicharito, Valencia.
Booked: Herrera, Darmian
Match Reaction
Louis van Gaal: “I am very happy that we won.
We started the competition with a win at home
and a win away. I think the key for this season
is to win more away games and I think we are
capable of doing that.”
Adnan Januzaj: “It felt good to get the goal
because I've not had a game for a long time
and my fitness is not so good, so I'm happy to
score the winner for the team. I hope to have
more games and score more goals.”
Daley Blind: “It was a real team performance,
especially off the ball. We created some
chances and could have scored more, but we
didn’t give anything away and won 1-0. Three
points are the most important thing, so again
I’m happy with the team."
Man of the Match: Juan Mata
That sumptuous pass to play in Januzaj for the
goal was classic Mata: vision and precision.
That's why he collected 50 per cent of fans'
votes on Twitter, ahead of the again impressive
Chris Smalling (29%) and match-winner
Januzaj (21%).
Three Match Facts
1. It's now 20 games unbeaten in the league at
Aston Villa. We just love visiting Villa Park!
2. United are top of the league – again. But as
Juan Mata says: "At this stage it means
nothing."
3. It's only the second time under Louis van
Gaal that United have kept back-to-back clean
sheets and won – we did it against Sunderland
and Newcastle earlier in 2015.
PLAYERS ON TWITTER
Ashley Young @youngy18
Good team effort for the win and clean sheet.
Thanks to all the fans that came, I know the
traffic coming down made it a long trip!
Juan Mata @juanmata8
Coming back to Manchester with three points!
Good way to celebrate your birthday
@AnderHerrera
Bastian Schweinsteiger @BSchweinsteiger
Second game, second victory. Come on, Red
Devils! #mufc
Matteo Darmian @DarmianOfficial
Going back to Manchester with another victory!
Really appreciate a huge support of #mufc
fans!!
Memphis Depay @Memphis
2 games 2 wins thanks for the support #mufc
supporters. Looking forward to Tuesday!
Download highlight here
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