Witness here, before I get into the match, the very first TSR Post I've done out of high school! Let's see if I've learnt anything in the past 12 years!
The Breakdown
Villa 2-2 United
A draw. Not what we needed, but having been rescued from a losing position, it's not a bad concession of points.
The first half was, from the 20th minute onwards, disappointingly dominated by Villa. Good for the neutrals, I guess.
Downing and Albrighton on each wing whipped in several crosses which threatened to sully the clean sheet we had going.
The first 15-20 minutes, though, saw good positive play by United, particularly by Park, Carrick and Evra, who each managed to make some good driving runs and/or create decent chances, though sporadic, for the rest of the half.
The second half was a different prospect entirely.
It was a half that saw 4 goals, Aston Villa hitting the woodwork twice and Chris Smalling playing as a centre-forward.
The deadlock was broken by an Ashley Young penalty, after he was brought down by Brown in the box. This was, though I'd hate to admit it, a deserving lead for Aston Villa. They didn't look back after the first half and just kept ploughing through.
The second was added almost insultingly quickly.
A lightning break after Macheda loses possession right on the edge of the Villa penalty area saw Downing sprint down the left, and he played quite an exquisite ball across the face of the box, which Marc Albrighton, who'd looked All-bright in the second half, duly put away. 2-0 to the home team. Disaster for United.
But lo! With 10 minutes to play, the ball is fed in to Fletcher on the edge of the Villa box, his shirt blank after receiving a gash to the face resulting in the mandatory change of shirt, who rolls it invitingly for Kiko Macheda, who dispatched it into the top-right corner of Friedel's net. The game was on, chaps. 2-1.
United began to pile on the pressure after this, and really, if anyone was going to win it, it was going to be us. Fergie takes Park off and plays Smalling as a centre-forward, not sure why... but still, relentless pressure paid off for us.
Nani, on the left, slips by Luke Young and plays a ball deep to the far post where our new Captain Fantastic Nemanja Vidic heads it back across the face of goal, past Brad Friedel into the Villa net. 2-2 and the game was set to be an epic finish.
And it was United still who had a pretty good chance to nick it into 5 minutes of stoppage time: Obertan was played through and tried to dink it over Friedel, who "used his face" (read: got lucky) and saved Villa from being on the receiving end of the most magnificent of comebacks in the history of time.
Sadly, it wasn't to be. 2-2 the final score from Villa Park, a point won, rather than two dropped, as it was a spirited showing by a youthful Aston Villa side. Credit given where credit's due.
Reaction
Holy moly. Aston Villa played their socks off today. Alright, "game of two halves" and all that, it needs to be said: the second half was *a classic*.
They played really well, and Gerrard Houllier has revived the team which he inherited from the wily Martin O'Neill into a useful looking outfit. Hopefully they'll be able to pull out a performance like that against the other title contenders.
The first half was average—no, it was below average. An average Manchester United display would've at least gotten more than no shots on target. The problem, in the first half at least, was the way our options became nullified due to the pressing of the Villa midfield. Fletcher and Carrick had no space to play any passes.
And I guess it needs to be said, Nani in the first half was dreadful. Nothing stuck for him and he didn't play any significant crosses down the right. The Park and Evra combo down the left was much more fruitful, in terms of crosses, but likewise didn't finish in any goals.
Now, Chicharito is a player I really like. His hard work and infectiously positive attitude is something that I think we need when our ranks are ravaged by injury and/or disease. But it wasn't going well for him today, either. Dunne and Collins really made it difficult for him (and Berbatov, it must be said.)
Just didn't fall right for him.
It made quite a difference when he and Berbatov were double-subbed in favour of Macheda and Obertan.
Having not scored for a while, Federico Macheda played impressively considering the amount of time he had in the game, and the limited number of times he was on the ball.
Nemanja Vidic impressed again today with his never-say-die attitude and, by grabbing the vital equaliser close to the end of the game, kept our unbeaten start to the season going and hauled his team from the jaws of defeat. Fantastic.
But, it would be incredibly biased to give the Best Player award to a United player, seeing as we were emphatically out-gunned by the younger and hungrier Villa side.
Thus! Marc Albrighton gets my man of the match mention.
Pretty fantastic game by this young man.
Where We Stood, Where We Stand
Well... it was an exciting finish. My girlfriend was over from Australia and she saw how tense I got once the clock was winding down and we were almost certain to get a chance to seal an unlikely win... but it was a draw. Which means Chelsea get a chance to go 6 points clear at the end of the weekend. But, for now, we're 3 points behind. And, if Chelsea lose 6-0, a 14-0 win next weekend could see us at the top of the table for the first time this season. One can only hope!
1|Chelsea|12P|23GD|28PTS
2|United|13P|11GD|25PTS
3|Arsenal|12P|13GD|23PTS
4|Man City|12P|5GD|21PTS
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5|Newcastle|12P|5GD|17PTS
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