GREENWOOD’S SPREE GOES ON
FOOTBALL without fans amplifies every sound as empty Premier League stadia act as giant echo chambers.
Here at Villa Park it was possible to hear the sheer purity of thumping goals from Mason Greenwood and Paul Pogba for Manchester United just as it was to hear the howls of complaint from home manager Dean Smith after his side conceded a first half penalty that should never have been.
That was the soundtrack of this game and it told the full story.
Greenwood and Pogba scored their goals either side of half-time. Both were perfectly struck right- footed from just outside the penalty area. No goalkeeper on earth would have saved them and for the second one, Pepe Reina didn’t even dive in futility.
Preceding all that, though, was a penalty award that changed the game. That is not to say United would not have won anyway. By the end they were streets ahead of a Villa side unable to climb from the bottom three places.
However, Villa were the better team at the time Bruno Fernandes tangled with Ezri Konsa as we approached the half-hour mark. They had just struck the post.
As Fernandes tried to turn he seemed to fall on to his marker, standing on him as he did so. He could feasibly have been penalised himself. But referee Jon Moss judged Konsa to have been the aggressor and VAR did not see fit to change that. Fernandes scored and the pattern of the contest changed immediately.
Villa had particular reason to be upset. Not only was the penalty highly contentious, they were probably playing their best football since the restart.
In common with most other teams at the wrong end of the table — Brighton being the exception — Villa have found no kind of form since the resumption.
At times, Smith’s team have appeared to be walking in a trance towards a relegation their chief executive Christian Purslow described as a ‘£200million catastrophe’ back in April.
Here, though, Villa had much more about them and could easily have led by the time Konsa and Fernandes came together in the 27th minute to alter the game.
United were slow to start and showed none of the menace on the break that they displayed on their last away showing at Brighton.
Jack Grealish had the best chance of the early play, volleying over at the far post after a deep cross from Konsa found him unmarked. Moments after that, Trezeguet had a similarly good opportunity only to misjudge the flight of the ball.
Perhaps irritated by that, the Villa midfielder sought to do a little better soon after. Robbing Pogba in centre field, he drove forward and thumped a low shot against the outside of David de Gea’s left-hand post with the goalkeeper struggling to get across.
Short of goals recently, it was easy to detect Villa’s lack of confidence in attack. Ally Samatta — the Tanzanian purchased from Belgian league Genk in January — was chosen to lead the line but he has seldom looked good enough and he didn’t on this occasion.
With all this in mind, it was not a surprise when United broke to take the lead. It’s what happens to poor sides down on their luck.
Konsa’s clash with Fernandes did not look like a foul, either at first view or on TV. If anything, the Portuguese player seemed to stand on the defender. Nevertheless, Fernandes took the penalty calmly and United were ahead.
After that controversial moment the balance of play did shift. United were far from electric but they were improved and after Fernandes headed over from a Luke Shaw cross, the visiting team struck again deep in added time.
Villa defender Tyrone Mings lost the ball in his own half and when it was shifted to Greenwood, he nudged it out of his feet and lashed it past Reina from the edge of the penalty area.
United soon threatened early in the second half. Marcus Rashford has been playing a little in Greenwood’s shadow but his turn inside by the left touchline was superb and his cross to the far post should have been converted by Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Instead, the rightback headed wide as he stooped.
Villa’s couldn’t find a way to trouble De Gea and the vague threat they had carried earlier was now a distant memory and they were lucky that Martial — who later hit the crossbar — got his feet mixed up as he ran through on Reina.
Neil Taylor was able to tackle but from the corner that followed, Pogba sidefooted a lovely third low to the Villa keeper’s left from the edge of the area.
ASTON VILLA (4-4-1-1): Reina; Konsa, Mings, Hause, Taylor; El Ghazi (Hourihane 58), Douglas Luiz, McGinn (Nakamba 58), Trezeguet; Grealish; Samatta (Davis 58). Subs not used: Nyland, Lansbury, Jota, Guilbert, El Mohamady, Vassilev. Booked: Konsa, Nakamba.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Wan-Bissaka (Williams 66), Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw; Pogba, Matic (McTominay 66); Greenwood (James 79), Fernandes (Fred 72), Rashford; Martial (Ighalo 78).
Subs not used: Romero, Bailly, Mata, Pereira. Booked: Matic, Wan-Bissaka.
Referee: Jon Moss.
Man of the Match: Mason Greenwood