Manchester United vs. Aston Villa
United headed into this game 5 points ahead of 2nd place Chelsea, and 6 points ahead of 3rd place Arsenal.
United started with their strongest 4 in the back : Ferdinand, Vidic, Brown, and Evra.
A solid and experienced midfield with Giggs on the left, Scholes and Carrick in the center, and Ronaldo on the right. Tevez and Rooney started up top.
Uniteds first chance at goal came from Wayne Rooney. Aston Villa tried to clear the ball, but it fell to Rooney who took a brilliant volley that had plenty of potential. Unfortunately it was deflected by the Villa defense.
In the 11th minute United create a great opportunity as Scholes gives it to Giggs at half, Giggs carries and then dishes of to Carrick who does great by switching the ball to Ronaldo. Ronaldo cuts to the middle and creates just enough room to have a dangerous low drive. Lucky for Villa Carson just gets a finger on it.
A corner in the 17th would lead to one of the most creative goals Ronaldo has scored this season. United take the corner, it was swung into the far post just over Barrys head, off of Boumas chest, and on Ronaldos feet. And if you blinked you missed it. Ronaldo got the ball just outside the 6, by the time Villa reacted it was too late, Ronaldo knew what he was going to do and he did it perfectly. Ronaldo back-heels it, nutmegs the defender and slides it right past Carson for his 35th of the season.
The second goal started with Scholes and Rooney playing a lovely wall pass. Scholes slid the ball out to the right flank where Ronaldo was completely unmarked. By the time Villa recognized that Ronaldo was wide open Tevez snuck in the back post, and Ronaldo made them pay as he placed a perfect center for Carlitos Tevez to finish with a flying header.
It was all United. Aston Villa looked like they were in the way, as United kept giving to them
In the second half
United wasted no time, 5 minutes in Tevez and Rooney team up wonderfully. Rooney starts the give and go just outside the 18 and Tevez supplies it. He puts Rooney in clean through, but with no luck. Rooney tries to slide past Carson, but it goes wide.
I don’t think Rooney likes scoring easy goals, I think he likes his goals to be spectacular.
And just after that Brown misjudges a ball that is punted by Carson to Maloney. It leads to a great scoring opportunity for Villa but Maloney does terribly and volleys it wide. He should have scored.
Just 2 minutes later United create another great chance as Scholes gives the ball to Rooney for a give and go, Rooney supplies the pass which leaves Scholes inside the 18, but instead of pulling the trigger he supplies a great ball, far-post for Ronaldo who hits it one time, but is denied again
A minute later Ronaldo has an ingenious no look flick with his heel to send Wayne Rooney on a breakaway, This time Rooney converts! He kept his composure and dribbled right by the goalie and tucked it away to a wide open net.
2 minutes later, in the 55th minute Kuszczak was put to the test as Maloney got by Vidic and was able to lay off a very dangerous shot. Great save by Kuszczak who hadn’t done anything all game and was suddenly put on the spot.
Again another United opportunity comes from United ability to switch the point of attack in 2-3 touches. The whole game Uniteds center mids would receive the ball and dish off to the opposite side.
This time it led to a great chance for Tevez, but he doesn’t seem to make the right contact to redirect that ball.
In the 67th minute, Tevez was at the edge of the 18 and he had a nice layoff to Rooney, who decided to hit it one time, unfortunately it hit the post and went wide.
That wasn’t the end of Uniteds all out attack on Villa. In the 70th minute Mellberg gave the ball away 25 yards out in the middle of the field. Giggs recovered and immediately slide a ball to Tevez, who played Ronaldo first time. Ronaldo then flicks it out to Rooney, who makes it 4-0.
The key to Uniteds success today was the effectiveness of the center mids to switch the point of attack instead of trying to dribble up the center of the field.
If United could continue to do this, they will certainly win the Barclays Premier League.
