Manchester United 3
Garnacho 48 71, Højlund 82
Aston Villa 2
McGinn 21, Dendoncker 26
It caused relief for Erik ten Hag too and began the Sir Jim Ratcliffe-era of partial ownership of Manchester United in precisely the same fashion that preceded it: breathless and chaotic.
Højlund's intervention came after Alejandro Garnacho had equalised on 71 minutes. Before this, boos had greeted Aston Villa's second strike and these plus the sight of a stonyfaced Sir Dave Brailsford watching United's opening 45-minute debacle threatened to surmise the very sorry tale of a fifth defeat of December.
But Ten Hag and his men escaped, before the manager takes his shaky side to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. And as one to occupy a new place on United's board, Brailsford's report to Ratcliffe of this showing will surely inform the new 25% shareholder how Ten Hag's players are still fighting for him, which may be key to his job security.
Zero goals in their previous four games (in all competitions) and one point from their previous three league games was the damning record Ten Hag's men hoped to halt.
Denne historien er fra December 27, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra December 27, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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