Does this late, late comeback draw keep Michael Carrick in his job? He urged United to back Tuesday’s breathless Roma comeback victory by building momentum and they did – kind of, by avoiding defeat.
Patrick Dorgu’s 96th-minute equaliser went off his head and in: this made it 4-4 to follow Joshua Zirkzee’s own added-time finish as Aston Villa were somehow pulled back by Carrick’s chaotic unit.
Chris Kavanagh soon blew the whistle for time but not before further bedlam as the referee sent off what appeared to be a member of Villa’s technical staff.
Before all of this Senne Lammens, twice, Diogo Dalot and Leny Yoro were three of United’s rearguard culpable for all Villa goals. What can any manager do if a trio of players shoot the team in both feet with the schoolboy defending that allowed Alysson to score a barely credible 48 seconds in, and Nicolas Jackson to net after four minutes.
Both these goals were Lammens’ fault. Then, after a rousing Roma-like first-half comeback to make it 2-2 via Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans, Dalot’s chop on Alysson two minutes into the second period conceded the season’s clearest penalty, which John McGinn scored.
Further farce followed via Yoro’s own what are you doing moment: a flying header of McGinn’s free-kick at his goal that led to Leon Goretzka’s fourth for Unai Emery’s impressive team.
The bottom line is United have still won three games all season, from 15, and only one of these in the league, back on 30 August, when Ipswich were beaten 5-2.
Carrick may well cling on because Jason Wilcox has been reluctant to fire the manager so far. Yet United enter the international break in a bewildering 18th place, so who knows?
For two minutes 46 seconds Carrick’s men were actually bottom earlier in the day when Sunderland went 1-0 up against Chelsea and Liverpool scored at Crystal Palace.
The toxicity towards the owners from fans was summed up in the message, held up in letters and displayed in the Stretford End, to the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe: “Your funeral not ours, sell up”
Villa’s lighting start was uber-professional from them, dismally-amateurish from United: the ball arrived at Alysson and his shot went through Lammens’ legs.
United’s No 1 was to blame again when Alysson’s effort this time went to Lammens’ left, and instead of pushing the ball away he teed it up for Jackson, who smashed in.
The joke beforehand was that even United could not lose by the 10-goal margin needed to end the day in 20th place. The joke now was that United were in “hold my beer” territory.
Could United get a grip, somehow, and retrieve a two-goal deficit, as they did versus Roma? Cunha, who netted twice against the Italians, made a barnstorming charge into the right of Villa’s area that caused Boubacar Kamara to upend him. Kavanagh awarded the penalty and so Fernandes, as he did versus Roma, had the chance from the spot to pull a first goal back.
Up the captain stepped and a hop-and-skip later the ball was passed by Zion Suzuki’s left, the keeper guessing the wrong way. This was 16 minutes in and the chaos that is Carrick’s United took over as Villa were pummeled by the red blur that came at relentlessly.
United were all they had not been in the calamitous opening four minutes: slick, fast, cut-throat, in-charge. A Fernandes cross-shot troubled Suzuki. Villa’s No 1 leaped left and cat-like to parry Cunha’s curler. Youri Tielemans forced a corner, as did Fernandes via a McGinn up-raised leg.
This was a 20-minute passage that was only finally broken when Villa escaped their half, McGinn dropping a free-kick on to Pau Torres, whose header sailed over.
United continued on. Their energy impressed and it said they still believed – in rescuing the match, and Carrick. Hard evidence arrived with Tielemans’ equaliser as Villa folded precisely as United had. Noussair Mazraoui’s cross came to the Belgian and he beat Suzuki. So, at the interval, the contest was all square after a breakneck opening half.
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What might the second period conjure? The answer: Dalot’s feeble trip on Alysson, as Carrick was a picture of despair. McGinn converted, to Lammens’ right, and a topsy-turvy affair stood at 3-2 to Villa.
Aston Villa deserved credit for the response. And now they scored due to more slapstick United play. McGinn’s free-kick floated in from the right, Yoro’s header forced Lammens to tip the ball on to the frame of the goal: it rebounded and Goretzka bundled in.
Carrick had not found a place for Shea Lacey despite his impact as a substitute against Roma but on 65 minutes he did, the youngster joined by Dorgu and Mason Mount in a triple change.
Tielemans, Amad Diallo and Dalot came off and the Portuguese seemed to be jeered: if so a rare occurrence here for United to boo one of their own. Now came Zirkzee and Dorgu’s goals that grabbed a point for United.
“Sacked in the morning” had been the Villa support’s taunt of Carrick. We wait to see if this is prescient. The smart money would say not.
