Sir Dave Brailsford has taken sportsmen to Olympic gold medals and Tour de France wins. It would be an exaggeration to say a new face in the Old Trafford directors’ box was a galvanising force but as regime change is coming, Manchester United could at least savour a shift in their fortunes. Wretched in the first half, revived in the second, they produced a comeback that was both spirited and timely: not least, perhaps, for Erik ten Hag, who had endured the Aston Villa fans’ taunts that he would be sacked and then oversaw his best win of the season in front of a new powerbroker.
It was timely, too, for Rasmus Hojlund, who has endured a traumatic start to life in the Premier League, but whose belated first goal – 15 matches and 1,027 minutes on the pitch into his top-flight career in England – was a winner against an in-form side near the top of the table.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are paying a colossal amount for their share of United – some £1.3bn for a quarter of what has looked a failing football club – and if they have questions about the transfer outlay in recent years, the £72m striker offered an indication of what he can provide.
John McGinn had been a catalytic figure in a first half when Villa went 2-0 up but when Bruno Fernandes’s corner bounced off Unai Emery’s captain, Hojlund hooked in a shot off the far post.
Ratcliffe had vowed to bring the glory days back to Old Trafford and Brailsford, who is expected to join the board, got a glimpse of what it can be. The billionaire will put some £237m into refurbishing Old Trafford but a creaking ground was electric. Booed off at half-time, United responded and roused the crowd. They launched into waves of attack; many involved the recalled Marcus Rashford who, due to sickness and poor form, had not started in the previous five games but who again looked a driving force.
Fernandes was both prompter and constant complainer. Alejandro Garnacho was terrific: he would have had a hat-trick had he timed a run better but he was the architect of a fightback.
In a season of shocking statistics for United, Garnacho prevented two – an eighth home defeat of the season, a 14th in all competitions – and ended another. No forward had scored in the league for United at Old Trafford since Jadon Sancho in May. Ten Hag may have particular reasons to be glad that drought ended while United, goalless in their previous four games, mustered a trio after the break.
Garnacho scored twice and had another ruled out— (AFP via Getty Images)
Rashford had posed a menace even before then. He was fired up and fired narrowly wide. He had a couple of shots saved by Emi Martinez. This time, at least, his effort could not be questioned: he brought a vibrancy.
The tide began to turn when Garnacho had a goal disallowed after he was released by Rashford but was adjudged offside. He soon struck in more legitimate fashion. When Fernandes won the ball and Rashford centred, the Argentinian supplied a far-post finish. He soon had a second, Garnacho’s shot taking a deflection off Diego Carlos, just as Bruno Fernandes’s cross had come off a defender to fall to the Argentinian. Yet United’s verve rattled Villa and brought a third.
It was a turnaround that may have suited United’s two closest rivals, Liverpool and Manchester City. Villa were on course for an eighth win in 11 games, about to go level on points with the league leaders: they, it seemed, are having the season United envisaged, including a title charge.
They struck twice in six minutes, each a product of their own dead-ball expertise – a sign of the coach Austin McPhee’s impact – and United’s doziness as they looked outwitted. McGinn’s ability to take set-pieces with both feet makes him a rarity and proved particularly productive. Villa’s first goal stemmed directly from his free kick, their second indirectly from his corner. Each was taken with his less-favoured left foot.
Villa took a two-goal lead but conceded three after the break— (Getty Images)
First the Scot whipped in a free kick from the right touchline. Leander Dendoncker and Ollie Watkins tried to apply a touch, their presence leaving Andre Onana flatfooted; it was not, though, the first time he has been motionless as the ball has gone in. It is a regular failing and a damning one. The goalkeeper may have been distracted by Jacob Ramsey, running back from an offside position but Fernandes’s whinges to referee Craig Pawson fell on deaf ears.
Dendoncker’s first league start of the season then became a memorable affair with a remarkable finish – the Belgian casually flicking in a finish when the unmarked Clement Lenglet headed McGinn’s corner across the six-yard box.
So far, so good for Villa. It seemed United would reach the half-way point of the season with a lone point against top-half teams, with only Sheffield United having scored fewer. But then came a stunning second half to cheer both Brailsford and Ten Hag, the cycling supremo and the football manager.
