Aston Villa 1-2 Man Utd: Post-match reaction

ManchesterWorld

Our reporter Michael Plant gives his reaction from Villa Park as Manchester United earn a vital three points in the race for fourth place.

Transcript

00:00 I'm at Villa Park where this evening Manchester United earned a crucial 2-1 victory against

00:04 Aston Villa in the race for the Champions League places.

00:07 It means United are now just 6 points off Spurs in 4th place and 5 points behind 5th

00:12 place Villa.

00:13 But really this is a game that United will feel pretty fortunate to come away from with

00:18 all 3 points because for long periods of this game they were 2nd best.

00:22 Villa actually managed 23 shots here this evening, 10 on target and there were periods

00:26 this game where it just felt like a matter of when, not if, Villa were going to just

00:31 take the game away from United.

00:32 There was a long spell in the second half where they completely dominated the game.

00:36 United were hanging on really but, but, as has so often happened this season with United,

00:40 they have a way of digging in, of staying competitive, staying involved in games and

00:45 ultimately they have enough firepower at the other end of the pitch that they can ground

00:50 out wins and results.

00:51 I think defensively they'll be pleased to have dealt with all those chances for Villa

00:54 as well.

00:55 I think Malo had a really good game, same with Harry Maguire and actually Andre Anana

00:59 as well, of course a player who has earned a lot of criticism at times this season.

01:02 Probably in terms of shots stopping, perhaps his best performance in a United shirt because

01:05 he made some really important ones to deny walk-ins on a couple of occasions.

01:08 Douglas Luiz made a good save from Leon Feeley as well.

01:12 But United took an early lead through Rasmus Hoyland and now that's 5 goals in 5 games

01:18 for him.

01:19 Seems like a long time ago that he couldn't find the back of the net.

01:22 Of course it was against Villa that he found his goal scoring touch with that injury time

01:27 winner.

01:28 He looks like a completely different player since then.

01:30 But after that Villa were on top, created a couple of chances but went in at half time

01:33 and 1-0 down.

01:35 They did eventually get a goal via Douglas Luiz who tapped in from a Leon Feeley cross

01:40 but in 86th minute Scott McTominay rose with a back post header, jumping above Matty Cash

01:44 to give United a huge 3 points.

01:46 You can actually just see Scott McTominay doing a little bit of a cool down behind me

01:49 because he wasn't actually on the pitch for that long so getting in a couple of extra

01:53 yards into his legs.

01:55 But listen, a huge contribution from him.

01:56 So many times McTominay has come off the bench this season and provided game-changing moments.

02:00 It was only 11 days ago he was in the West Midlands and powered a header into the goal

02:05 at Molineux to help United earn a 4-3 victory against the Wolves.

02:09 Of course there was that one against Brentford earlier this season as well.

02:11 McTominay has had a real contribution in terms of match-changing moments I suppose and really

02:18 important for him.

02:19 He's a player who's actually found himself out of the team in recent weeks but good performance

02:22 from him.

02:23 But listen, I think in general United will be a bit concerned that this is once again

02:25 a game that they didn't dominate.

02:28 The other team dictated to them what sort of game it was going to be.

02:31 They were second best for a long period and while they've got 3 points there are still

02:34 concerns I think about Ten Hag and his approach and just how open United are through the middle.

02:38 But for now anyway it's a big win for United.

02:40 They cut the gap to the Champions League spots down to 6 points.

02:44 They've actually really I think blown this Champions League race open.

02:47 The front three are scoring goals, they've defended well and they've now won 5 out of

02:50 6.

02:51 It is certainly looking better for Eric Ten Hag.

02:53 Eric Ten Hag and Manchester United.

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