MANCHESTER, England — There was an FA Cup shock at Old Trafford on Monday night as Manchester United somehow managed to cling on against Aston Villa, scraping through their third round tie with a 1-0 win. Steven Gerrard’s side had two goals ruled out — one after a lengthy VAR stoppage — hit the crossbar and forced David de Gea into two impressive saves but were undone by Scott McTominay’s early header.
McTominay was named man of the match but there was very little competition for the award. United, struggling with the ball and without it, are not playing well and Villa will be looking forward to the two teams meeting again in the Premier League on Saturday. Middlesbrough, waiting in the fourth round, will be licking their lips, too.
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“To say that this was a perfect game, nobody would believe that. Of course it was not,” said United manager Ralf Rangnick afterwards. “We still have quite a few things we can get better at, but a clean sheet was important today and we worked together. Still a lot of things to improve, but it is easier to do that with a 1-0 win.
“We fought well as a team together when it was important. In the end it was a good win. That was our goal, to proceed to the next round.”
United, without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, were outplayed to such an extent that after 65 minutes the statistics showed they had just 37% possession. When they did have the ball, it was wasted. Pass after pass slipped by its target, either finding a white Villa shirt or the advertising boards. So much for Rangnick helping United to control games. It said everything that with 20 minutes to go, the German was forced to replace his striker, Edinson Cavani, with midfielder Donny van de Beek.
When the final whistle went, Mason Greenwood and Luke Shaw collapsed to the floor. Victor Lindelof slumped…
Source : espn
