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| Adnan Januzaj celebrates scoring at Villa Park |
AS predictable as traffic chaos on the M6 on a Friday night is the sight of a Manchester United team enjoying themselves on a trip to Villa Park.
Adnan Januzaj’s first half goal made it 20 years without a Premier League defeat for United at their favourite away ground.
A second successive 1-0 win put them top of the table with maximum points from their first two games.
But just like their opening day victory over Tottenham, United were efficient rather than entertaining with Louis Van Gaal wanting his team to keep possession and play the safety-first game.
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| Ander Herrera is challenged by Aston Villa's Jordan Amavi |
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| Wayne Rooney headed the frontline for United but failed to score |
The one bit of real quality came from Januzaj who justified his surprise selection with a well-taken goal – his first since United’s 4-0 win at Newcastle during David Moyes’ last month in charge in April 2014.
Januzaj suffered badly from ‘second season syndrome’ last year when he didn’t score at all last season. But went into last night’s game boosted by Van Gaal’s insistence that he still believes in him and see him as an importan tpart of his plans at Old Trafford.
The game matched the traffic – a gridlock affair with United enjoying the bulk of possession and Villa lacking the quality to trouble them.
Villa presented their 10th summer signing before kick-off with boss Tim Sherwood describing 19-year-old striker Adama Traore, who cost £7m from Barcelona, as “a little bit of Messi, a little bit of Ronaldo”.
A full-house crowd at Villa Park who had battled through nightmare traffic conditions to get to the game could have done with some of those skills to light up a cautious first half an hour.
So, it was left to Januzaj, given a surprise start in place of Ashley Young, to bring the game to life.
Van Gaal showed his trust in the Belgium youngster by handing him the responsibility of playing in the No 10 role behind frontman Wayne Rooney, with Memphis Depay moving to the left flank.
Januzaj may have done some extra physical work in Dubai in the summer to toughen himself up but he didn’t look strong enough in the early stages when he was bundled off the ball four times as United enjoyed almost total possession but did little with it.
But he showed his class and justified Van Gaal’s decision to select him on 29 minutes by starting and finishing the move from which United took the lead.
Suddenly finding himself in space, Januzaj spread the ball out to Juan Mata and, after Depay and Shaw were both involved, he raced into the penalty area to get on the end of Mata’s precise pass.
Januzaj turned past Micah Richards’ sliding challenge before scoring with a shot that went off Ciaran Clark’s legs and into the net via the far post.
Jordan Veretout then tried to get Januzaj into trouble by holding his chest as if he had been kicked by the youngster in a collision of legs. But replays showed referee Mike Dean and his assistants were right to ignore the incident.
Encouragingly for Van Gaal, Depay looked happier in in the wider position. He had a a shot saved by Brad Guzan and sent a header wide.
It took Villa 38 minutes to threaten when Richards sent a header well wide from their first corner of the game but United were well worth their lead at the break.
Villa had to step it up and there was far more urgency and aggression about their game after the break.
Jordan Ayew picked up Mata’s stray pass and ran at the Untied defence before firing over. Then Gabby Agbonlahor’s powerful header from a Westwood corner forced Sergio Romero to make his first save of the game, albeit a comfortable one.
Sherwood sent on Gestede – scorer of Villa’s winner on his debut at Bournemouth - for Sinclair after 59 minutes in the hope of increasing his team’s momentum.
Van Gaal responded by making a double substitution on the hour with Bastian Schweinsteiger replacing Michael Carrick and Ander Herrera coming on for Januzaj.
And it gave United a more solid look and they were able to regain control of the game.
Depay wants to take over United’s free-kick responsibilities but didn’t do himself any favours by blazing a set-piece higgh and wide earning derision even from United’s followers.
He wasted a great chance to make amends when Mata put him with a defence-splitting pass but the young Dutchman’s steered his first time shot inches wide of the far post.
Just as they did against Spurs, United saw the game out without any scares to put themselves in good heart for their return to the Champions League on Tuesday.
Aston Villa (4-3-3): Guzan; Bacuna, Richards, Clark, Amavi; Veretout, Geuye Westwood; Ayew, Agbonlahor, Sinclair.
NEXT UP: Sat – Crystal Palace PL (a).
Man Utd (4-2-3-1): Romero; Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Carrick; Mata, Januzaj, Depay; Rooney.
Goal: Januzaj 29.
NEXT UP: Tues – Bruges (h) CL.
Referee: M. Dean (Wirral).
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