The scoreline was tough on the opposition, for which I had the utmost respect even before the game started and mostly because of the one man in charge of the team; Martin O' Neill. He is the manager of Aston Villa and has proven that he deserves to manage at the highest level based on this game.
I felt that he did not think there was nothing to lose by trying to match to the champions' skills competency and he did what most other teams do not do at Old Trafford; to play Man Utd at their own game and man-to-man, to prove they can also match the league leaders.
However, despite the early stiff and unusual opening 2-way exhanges, normally it will be one-way traffic, Aston Villa were perhaps let down by a couple of weak links in the side. Reo-Corker played in an uncharacteristic right-back position perhaps in an attempt to limit Ronaldo/Giggs' influence and the effectiveness on the left flank (and maybe on the right too) was more often than not non-existent.
Despite that, Ronaldo came out supreme and broke Aston Villa's resistance by cheekily opening the scoring from a corner. Ronaldo will proved to have his most productive game for Man Utd assist-wise and had a hand in each of the remaining goals.
2nd goal, Tevez started the move just past the half-way line and a couple of passes later, Schole found Ronaldo who provided an inch-perfect cross for Tevez to finish what he started.
3rd goal saw Rooney surprisingly grabbed his first league goal at Old Trafford since October 2007, Ronaldo had the sense of awareness to back-heel a pass into the path of Rooney who coolly rounded the unfortunate Scott Carson and tapping the ball into the net.
4th goal, Rooney was found inside the box from a Ronaldo nutmeg and grabbing his 2nd of the game. His hat-trick beckoned but the next ball that landed in Villa's net was not counted as Rooney had been offside when that ball went in.
A masterclass perfomance somewhat but credit to Aston Villa for trying to take the fight to the champions. With Chelsea and Arsenal also winning their respective weekend games, it is set to be the tightest finish in the Premier League for years.
~akim~
I felt that he did not think there was nothing to lose by trying to match to the champions' skills competency and he did what most other teams do not do at Old Trafford; to play Man Utd at their own game and man-to-man, to prove they can also match the league leaders.
However, despite the early stiff and unusual opening 2-way exhanges, normally it will be one-way traffic, Aston Villa were perhaps let down by a couple of weak links in the side. Reo-Corker played in an uncharacteristic right-back position perhaps in an attempt to limit Ronaldo/Giggs' influence and the effectiveness on the left flank (and maybe on the right too) was more often than not non-existent.
Despite that, Ronaldo came out supreme and broke Aston Villa's resistance by cheekily opening the scoring from a corner. Ronaldo will proved to have his most productive game for Man Utd assist-wise and had a hand in each of the remaining goals.
2nd goal, Tevez started the move just past the half-way line and a couple of passes later, Schole found Ronaldo who provided an inch-perfect cross for Tevez to finish what he started.
3rd goal saw Rooney surprisingly grabbed his first league goal at Old Trafford since October 2007, Ronaldo had the sense of awareness to back-heel a pass into the path of Rooney who coolly rounded the unfortunate Scott Carson and tapping the ball into the net.
4th goal, Rooney was found inside the box from a Ronaldo nutmeg and grabbing his 2nd of the game. His hat-trick beckoned but the next ball that landed in Villa's net was not counted as Rooney had been offside when that ball went in.
A masterclass perfomance somewhat but credit to Aston Villa for trying to take the fight to the champions. With Chelsea and Arsenal also winning their respective weekend games, it is set to be the tightest finish in the Premier League for years.
~akim~
