MANCHESTER UNITED EDGED a pulsating FA Cup clash with Aston Villa as Scott McTominay’s early header proved enough against Steven Gerrard’s side.
After a weekend of intrigue and upsets, the third round ended with an all-Premier League encounter and one of Liverpool’s greatest-ever players managing at Old Trafford for the first time.
Monday’s tie lacked goals but provided plenty of entertainment, with McTominay’s header the difference as Ralf Rangnick’s United secured a hard-fought 1-0 win to set up a fourth-round date at home to Middlesbrough.
Villa already had an Old Trafford win under their belt this season and will leave ruing what could have been given the number of chances they created after falling behind in the eighth minute.
Ollie Watkins cannoned an effort off the crossbar in the first half and, while United had chances to extend their lead, the visitors looked as unruffled as their constantly goaded manager.
Danny Ings saw an equaliser ruled out after a lengthy video assistant referee review, with Jacob Ramsey’s block on Edinson Cavani the apparent reason, before Watkins saw a leveller chalked off for offside.
United looked there for the taking but Gerrard’s side could not eke out an equaliser in a tie that adds spice to Saturday evening’s Premier League meeting between the clubs at Villa Park.
Gerrard was jeered on his way out for the match and stared at the pocket of United fans that were chanting loudest about him.
That section held up a large banner as kick-off approach that read ‘Standards’ alongside images of club greats – a poignant message given the recent issues that were obvious in last Monday’s 1-0 home loss to Wolves.
United showed a much-needed reaction in the early stages and just eight minutes were on the clock when Fred swung in a cross from the right that McTominay glanced home.
Rangnick was elated on the touchline but soon saw his side lack the control he craves.
Tyrone Mings met a corner with a flicked header to the far post, where Watkins would have converted was it not for a crucial Victor Lindelof touch.
Emiliano Buendia showed skill and strength to wriggle through the heart of the United side and drag across the face of goal, before John McGinn forced David De Gea into an excellent one-handed stop.
Villa’s strong response continued as Buendia had a shot and, after Emiliano Martinez denied Cavani on the break, came even closer to levelling.
A poor, heavy touch by returning Lindelof was raced onto by Watkins, who cut in and rattled the crossbar from six yards out.
A low Ramsey strike deflected narrowly wide off McTominay as Villa looked dangerous, only for a break in play to change the rhythm as half-time approached.
Stand-in captain Bruno Fernandes saw an effort blocked and Martinez tipped over Luke Shaw’s great 30-yard effort, with Rashford’s delay in crossing to unmarked Mason Greenwood in stoppage time allowing Villa to cut the ball out.
The visitors returned from the break strongly and were celebrating what they thought was an equaliser just five minutes into the second half.
Ezri Konsa headed a free-kick back across the face of goal for Ings to bundle home, but after a VAR review for offside, which included Michael Oliver checking the monitor, Villa saw it disallowed.
But the decision appeared to be for Ramsey blocking Cavani in the build-up rather than offside for a Watkins touch before Ings turned in.
Whatever the reason, tension had grown and Villa soon cursed another ruled out goal, although Ings was clearly offside before racing through and clipping over De Gea for Watkins to score.
Cash saw a thumping drive from the edge of the box denied by De Gea, who berated his defence when Watkins was afforded time to bend just wide.
Donny Van De Beek replaced Cavani as United desperately looked to gain some control in the final 20 minutes, with fans making their frustration known when Greenwood shot as Rashford waited.
Villa pushed to take the match into extra time but could not find the goal they craved.
Var Checked so called foul on Cavani , moved to Ings hoping he was offside , he wasn’t. Moved back to Jacob Ramsey whom Cavani ran into . Ruled legit goal off. Corruption in this league is rampant and ref bias towards so called big six is plaguing Football.Manure get away with it again. Also no Var in FA cup in other grounds. Should be Var or none. Best team robbed by Ref corruption again tonight. Guaranteed Man U will get a dodgy decisions win in the game too next Saturday at Villa park.
Proud to be a lifelong Villa fan tonight and not a common United glory seeker. UTV
@Denis White: there’s not much glory to be seeking by supporting man united in the last decade tho is there?
@Denis White: what are you on about?? I’d advise you to look at it again slippy had them instructed that two men remained offside for the fk Inc Ramsey he stepped out and obstructed cavani from running in to defend the cross, it took var 3.5 mins to come to the deicision they went through everything,I get you are sour over losing the game and I must admit villa were the better side for the majority of game. Your proud be a villa fan as I a utd fan since 86 not all of us are “glory seekers”
@Denis White: what are you on about??I’d advise you to look at it again slippy had them instructed that two men remained offside for the fk (Inc)Ramsey he stepped out and obstructed cavani from running in to defend the cross, it took var 3.5 mins to come to the deicision they went through everything,I get you are sour over losing the game and I must admit villa were the better side for the majority of game. Your proud be a villa fan as I a utd fan since 86 not all of us are “glory seekers”
@Denis White: Small bit OTT there Denis. Without speaking about the decision itself (which was correct IMO).. i do agree with you that var shouldn’t not have been used tonight. However, the corruption accusation is ridiculous. United did get favourable calls in the ‘glory’ days in old trafford when the place was fortress and heaped pressure on referees who didn’t have var. But corruption in that call tonight is laughable.
@Pol Mlp: true but these fans probably started supporting Man U in 1992 , hey thats catchy :))
@Johnny Mads:
Would Var have taken this long to disallow a Man U goal tonight , don’t think so
@Denis White: shouldnt they have fecked off to another team by now by that logic?
@Denis White: are you a grown man? Calling a football side manure? I hope you know the history behind the use of that word you sad little skid mark
@Johnny Mads: Var is for a clear and obvious errors, Three and a half minute review is not clear and obvious, three and a half minutes to search for any reason to dissalow a goal and that is not what it was intended for. If you don’t think bias and corruption is rife with the so called big 6 espeically Man Utd with ref and contentious var decisions then you have your head firmly up your hoop.
@Gavin Mckenna: you think “corruption is rife” especially at man utd? Really?
@Gavin Mckenna: come off the stage would ya! I love the way you and the other Villa blinker fan above referred to the “big 6″ just to emphasise a rubbish claim where it used to be the “big 4″. As I said, yes united used to get the rub of the green in Fergies days. Yes villa deserved at least a draw last night.. but to call corruption on that decision? 3.5 mins was an utter joke but the right decision was made. Get over it.
@Gavin Mckenna: The big 6. Lol. Corruption. Lol. I’d say you’re an anti vaxxer too. Think the moon landing was faked and Bill Gates is a monster.
@Denis White: Car at London stadium,and it gave an goal to hammers,that should never have been allowed!!
@Denis White: proud maybe but not very perceptive. It is not allowed in the game for a player to deliberately stand 2 meters offside at a free kick in order to provide blocking cover for a teammate to run onto the ball… get real. That’s not even allowed in rugby
@Brian Dunne: No Not within Man Utd as a club, I’m stating decisions are swayed towards so called big 6 teams, always have always will. Put it this way, if the goal was down the other end, at Old Trafford, it’s 110% reviewed 30 secs max and given as a goal.
@Peter Walsh: No no and no sorry to disappoint. Revenge will ne sweet Saturday. The point I was making is your Utds Citys & Liverpools get the big decisions more often then not, which was highlighted last night. And there will be another contentious ref/var decision in the league game on Saturday, which wont be in Villas favour.
@Gavin Mckenna: you only have to look back a couple of years when Fernandes was given a penalty for a studs up challenge against Villa. He caught the Villa player just below the knee and rather than receiving a card went down and was awarded a penalty. Fair enough United scored twice afterwards but at that stage it was scoreless. How many clubs in the lower half of the league have had penalty appeals waved away as compared to the top half.
Have you ever seen a newly managed team / stadium so low after winning a game? I’ve seen plenty of united teams struggle on the pitch over the years, but I’ve never seen a united squad in such a bad state as this one. Ralf has a horrible job ahead and not sure he’ll be able to fix it, seems to have gone too far. Put your house on Villa this weekend!
@Johnny Mads: nothin against ralf but united should have either offered him a 3 year contract or nothing. This 6 month thing is a waste of everybody’s time. He hasn’t the time to get anything going, the players aren’t arsed because they know he’s out the door in a couple of months and the fans get served up stuff like tonight. Another great decision by the Manchester United hierarchy
@Johnny Mads: rashford looked awake in the first half though Johnny.
@Johnny Mads: lacking leadership big time especially in the middle where needed. How many times did players stand back off the ball expecting someone else to do it. V unsure about this fella Ralf either. It took him ages to make a change tonight when they were obviously struggling so badly. Also made no switches e.g. why not make Greenwood change wings on second half when doing nothing on the right? Very suspect
@Brian Dunne: 100%.. the dogs on the street new we needed a backup plan at least 12 months ago. Our ‘leaders’ upstairs unfortunately aren’t capable of such strategic planning. They had zero plans in place when Ole went. We are stuck in the stone age of football and while a lot of other clubs were building for the future, we unfortunately took success for granted and got left behind.
@Paul Gorry: Lol.. How mins would Klopp leave a fella like that on the pitch before being whipped off?
@Johnny Mads: in fairness Jonny a player like rashford wouldn’t get near a klopp team. Now iam not knocking the bloke he’s obviously a decent bloke and a exceptional player. But as far as his football career he’s fluck ed that up. Should have left it until his late career to do the charity stuff.
@Paul Gorry: Totally agree he’d be lucky to be a fringe player at Liverpool. Never seen a players confidence so low as he is right now. He’s far from a great player but he’s better than what he’s showing lately. That low confidence seems to be rife throughout the squad.
@Paul Gorry: Couldn’t agree more Paul.
@Paul Gorry: Yeah defo should have let the kids starve.
Not a great preformance, blessed at times,but a win is a win and onto the next round, rashford looks a shadow of himself confidence on the floor, thought varane was excellent keeping him fit now is key.
I don’t think there’s many teams left in the cup that’d be fearful of this united team.
Too many overpaid very average players at Utd….Won’t win anything this season….New manager in 6 months time ..will need to arrive with a Therapy table as his first purchase
@In the paper: but they are not average individually they are just not gelling as a team.
@Sean: just very average tonight
Watching em has become a very joyless experience. Good to get the win though. Rashford isnt even trying to look interested. Lindelof is really poor. Maguire has been poor this season, but he is certainly steadier at the back then lindelof, he is a total liability. Only for De Gea and villa’s poor finishing they’d be out. At least they have a handier draw in the next round, on paper at least.
Very easy to play against Utd. Just keep attacking the full back positions, they are never there!!. They are either way up the pitch or beside the centre halves. The young lad, Elanga was the only one who got the crowd going, Rashford and Greenwood were very poor, Fernández not much better. Villa were by far the better team.. great battle between McGinn and Fred. Big improvement needed on Saturday to get the show back on the road…. 4th place seems a long way off.
@Jerriko17: It’s quite obvious the recent utd revival has been undermined by the arrival of Ronaldo. Nostalgic doesn’t win silverware.
@Paul Gorry: Might be some element of truth in it but I don’t think it’s that simple. The two league games before Ronaldo came back were a poor performance in a 1-1 with Southampton and a really undeserved 1-0 win vs Wolves. Something isn’t right and it’s very hard to pinpoint what it is exactly. Just like the problem wasn’t all Ole, I don’t think it can be blamed on Ronaldo either.
@Shane Dunne: cmere shane its not all about the a win here or there. Ronaldo was a signing that should never have been made imo. Bruno Fernandes gone backwards since he arrived. Egos ruin team spirit.
@Paul Gorry: says a lot for the rest of them when they can’t handle someone ie Ronaldo, doing what he was signed for…. Scoring goals!. Yeah Ronaldo might be a bit of a pain and have a big ego but if they were all doing their jobs like him, we wouldn’t be scratching around chasing 4th place. Strong management is an issue too, couldn’t imagine Klopp putting up with it… Rangnik looked a bit clueless last night and his formation and substitutions were a bit bizarre. I’d say there’ll be little change for the return match on Saturday.
That was a tough watch. Clearly the team are struggling badly. Individually, Rashford and Greenwood are not up to scratch. Still, it’s all about scoring goals and Villa couldn’t do it tonight. Watching United is always a tough task lately. Something needs to be changed.
United were woeful tonight. They’ve become a depressing watch lately. We’re still in the FA cup however… That’s about the only positive I can take from tonight
At least mc tominay puts in an honest shift
This United team is the weakest in years, its a seriously long road back with this bunch of Overpaid and overhyped pansies. They’re are only there for the big pay deals and have no heart or desire. They threw Ole under the bus and wreck it Ralph ain’t guna fix this mess either. It’s from the top down the complete and utter crap starts with. United need a miracle not a Sports Physcologist..
Big clear out needed. Big big clear out
Weakest in yrs but still beating Villa .. UTD are only a window or 2 away (2 mids an a CB) from having a squad that can win things
@John McK: add in two full backs and a couple of strikers too. Ronaldo and Cavani have 70 years between them. Also working on the assumption that Fernandes stays. Too many egos in the dressing room needs addressing while they’re at it. A lot will depend on who takes over from Ralf.
@John McK: what game where you watching… Villa were the best team by a mile. A window or 2 me stones… United are miles behind city and pool & its more than windows they need it’s players who want to play for the club/badge with pride.. No leaders, no heart, no desire, no fight = worst united team in yrs. Mid PL team at best.
They are waiting for Brendan Rodgers in the summer.