Aston Villa find their thriller instinct against Manchester United boilover

That defeat for United in 1995 prompted Alan Hansen to come out with his infamous line on Match of the Day that “you can’t win anything with kids”. Yet at Villa Park yesterday (Sunday) it was Jacob Ramsey – one of Villa’s “kids” – who put the icing on the cake of a well-deserved win.

Since agreeing to take charge Emery, renowned for his meticulous planning, has watched re-runs of all of Villa’s games this season. Even after only four training sessions, the Spaniard will have recognised that the performance put in by his side in their 3-1 win far outshone the ones Villa produced under Steven Gerrard.

There was an intensity and attacking swagger that has been absent all too often this term. Under Gerrard Villa became hard to beat but boring to watch. This is not an accusation that could be thrown at this Emery side, at least on the evidence of this game.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks with the old gaffer getting sacked. There has been a lot of tactical work this week and the game plan worked,” Ramsey, the Villa academy graduate who scored their third goal, said.

Villa Park had been brimming with excitement and expectation before kick-off and all four stands gave Emery a warm welcome to his new Midlands home. But not even the most optimistic of Villa fans would have foreseen that they would be 2-0 up within 11 minutes. Leon Bailey got the first when he went on a driving run into the penalty area. He got on the wrong side of Lisandro Martinez and sent a powerful low shot into the far corner of David de Gea’s goal.

Without Raphael Varane, sidelined with a hamstring injury, United looked shaky at the back and Villa, with their fluid attacking system, knew early on that they could cause Erik ten Hag’s side problems. Emery has favoured a 4-4-2 in his previous coaching roles and Villa dropped back into that formation when they were out of possession. However, going forward they switched to a 4-2-2-2, which caused problems for United’s defence and midfield.

Four minutes after conceding the opener, Ten Hag’s team were undone defensively again. Bailey went driving forward and Luke Shaw hacked him down on the edge of the area. Lucas Digne stepped up to curl in a perfectly struck free kick into the top corner of the net.

With Bruno Fernandes suspended, Donny van de Beek started for the first time in the league since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s last game in charge, against Watford in November last year. There was once a time when United fans would pine for the Holland player to be given a chance but, based on his performance at Villa Park, there cannot be many who long to see him in midfield now. There has been much debate about Fernandes’s influence at United but his absence clearly left a creative hole in the team.

Stunned after the two early goals, United went 34 minutes before testing Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal.

“When you start the game you always have the attitude and it was one of our best standards,” Ten Hag said. “We are normally really on the front foot. We are really ready to play in all the games until now. Today we were not from the start. We didn’t follow the rules in defending and we lost our battles. I think it was collectively that we brought a bad performance.”

Alejandro Garnacho tested Martinez as United had a rare period of dominance and they got a lucky goal after Shaw’s shot was deflected off Ramsey into the top corner.

Ten Hag described United’s tactics of pumping balls into the area as “stupid” and, after a run of nine games unbeaten, familiar failings of old were exposed as they looked fragile at the back and out of ideas going forward.

Any hope of them producing a comeback was killed four minutes after the restart. Ollie Watkins went on a great run down the left, pulled back the ball to the edge of the area and Ramsey was there to fire into the top corner.

Emery, who had been an animated presence on the touchline for the whole game, gave a high-five to his backroom staff on the bench. “I was dreaming of this,” he said. “It was a special day today here. Today is all perfect.”

For Villa, who had only three wins to their name this season, the three points were what mattered most. The fans, who welcomed the Emery era with enthusiasm, will no doubt hope for more performances of such attacking verve.

As the 51-year-old walked down the tunnel and applauded the Villa faithful, he knew that he was off to the perfect start, while Ten Hag will no doubt hope for a much improved display when these two teams meet again in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night.

-The Times

Originally published as Aston Villa find their thriller instinct against Manchester United boilover