Three superb strikes by Manchester United undid Villa at Old Trafford tonight. It wasn't a bad performance in the 3-1 loss and still much to be positive about.
Villa were behind within a minute and more quality sides have been slaughtered after going behind to them so early in previous games.
Marc Albrighton handballed on the edge of United's box. Bent prevented Ferdinand from taking a quick kick and it became Villa's undoing. Edwin Van Der Sar decided to take the kick instead and turned into Johann Van der Cruyff with a beautifully struck pass that hit Rooney 60 yards down field. Rooney's first touch was sublime and his second was even better as he dispatched his shot past a helpless Brad Friedel.
Richard Dunne will have to shoulder the responsibity for allowing Rooney the space.
For the rest of the half, Villa passed the ball around well, but United seemed to be able to switch a button and get through the heart of Villa's defence. Villa seemed too slow when they approached United's defence and gave up possession or got caught offside at the worst possible time.
Fletcher was taken off after clashing with Makoun's head. It was the second time this season Fletcher has been covered in blood while playing Villa. By the games end 3 other players had received treatment for blood coming from their face although it was never a dirty match and no yellow cards were produced.
Nani was showing up Ciaran Clarke, playing left back and clearly out of his depth. He left the former centre half for dead before sending a perfect pass to Rooney, who was perhaps marginally offside, but, met the ball with his left foot on the half volley sending the Villa keeper the wrong way.
Villa showed a lot more life in the second half and eventually got back into the game as we saw the best and the worst of Downing in the next 5 minutes. A lovely flick by Young set Downing free on the right wing. His burst of pace was too much for United and his square ball was perfect for Bent to get his second Villa goal.
Any thoughts of a West Brom like fight back was killed minutes later, firstly, because United raised their game, secondly because Van Der Sar was not in a generous mood like he was against Albion and thirdly because Villa's defence folded like a cheap tent.
The defence failed to deal with a corner, the ball dropped to Rooney, who decided the better option was to drop the ball back to Vidic, and we saw the bad side of Downing and Petrov who both failed to launch themselves at Vidic, a la Collins. In fact replays showed both players ducking out of the way of the Serb's shot which sped past a frozen Friedel who must have not expected him to ever have got the shot away.
Villa still kept plugging away, they hit the bar twice from Dunne and Young, but United kept having the better chances, with Berbatov missing a sitter after another good save from Friedel.
Freidel officially became Villa's oldest ever player in this match and he actually had a very good game, but his back four didn't do him many favours, particularly on his left.
The commentators singled out the Man Utd fans as quiet. Although when they did open their mouths it sounded like they were singing some rendition to the tune of Barney, very embarrassing. They also pointed out a Villa chant at 2-1. The away fans were singing we're going to win 3-2. Very funny.
Back on the field, Makoun looked like he is settling in very well, although, this can be misleading as United do let teams play in midfield. But, he was involved in almost everything Villa did. The substitution of Petrov and the Bulgarian's reaction to it, may mean that this is the end of the line for the captain with Michael Bradley's arrival and his willingness to get forward into the opponent's box.
Time will tell, but the new Cameroonian import stole my man of the match honours. But, I'd like to see some Johan Cruyff splash plays or even some Edwin Van Der Sar passes!