Aston Villa fans have been on a high this week following on from the fantastic 3-1 Premier League victory over Manchester United. It was new head coach Unai Emery’s first game in charge and it brought a pathetic run of 23 years without a win on home soil to an end.
Without meaning to imply the domestic Cups are fixed, this week was also that time of year where we meet United in our almost annual third round EFL Cup clash and this one was always going to be trickier, as Erik ten Hag would be out for revenge.
Our chances weren’t made any easier by wholescale changes in the defence as Emery understandably used the competition to take a look at other players – many fans would’ve preferred friendlies during the break for that though.
With that said, the hosts had control but we took the lead shortly into the second half through Ollie Watkins, but were pegged back immediately as they levelled. An own goal from them restored our advantage just after the hour mark and whilst it is arguable we’d have held on anyway, the changes just ahead of our second interrupted the flow we did have, and United’s substitutes just after the goal ultimately totally changed the flow. With 23 left on the clock they levelled again. In the 78th minute they took the lead, and just inside of stoppage time they added a fourth.
Disappointing from our perspective, and although Emery will have a better clue about the wider squad now, and with the ridiculous winter break for a bit of sportswashing nigh on here, many will feel it was a mistake to not go stronger.
Old Trafford
EFL Cup Third Round
10/11/2022 9:00 pm
Attendance: 72512
Referee: David Coote
| Manchester United | Aston Villa | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martial (49), Rashford (67), Bruno Fernandes (78), McTominay (90+1) |
Watkins (48), Dalot (og 61) | ||||||
| Dubravka | Olsen | ||||||
| Dalot | Young | 74 | |||||
| Maguire | Konsa | 59 | |||||
| Lindelof | 87 | Chambers | |||||
| Malacia | Augustinsson | 80 | |||||
| McTominay | J Ramsey | 59 | |||||
| Fred | 62 | Douglas Luiz | |||||
| Bruno Fernandes | Kamara | ||||||
| van de Beek | 62 | McGinn | |||||
| Rashford | 82 | Ings | 59 | ||||
| Martial | 62 | Watkins | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| De Gea | Martinez | ||||||
| Martinez | 87 | Cash | 74 | ||||
| Eriksen | 62 | Mings | 59 | ||||
| Casemiro | 82 | Sanson | |||||
| Shaw | Buendia | 59 | |||||
| Pellistri | Nakamba | ||||||
| Elanga | 62 | Digne | 80 | ||||
| Shoretire | Bailey | 59 | |||||
| Garnacho | 62 | Archer | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 19 | Goal attempts | 5 |
| 8 | On Target | 2 |
| 7 | Corners | 2 |
| 13 | Fouls | 13 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 59 | % | 41 |