{"id":135245,"date":"2023-12-28T11:04:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T11:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/12\/28\/four-takeaways-from-man-utds-dramatic-comeback-against-aston-villa\/"},"modified":"2023-12-28T11:04:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T11:04:03","slug":"four-takeaways-from-man-utds-dramatic-comeback-against-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/12\/28\/four-takeaways-from-man-utds-dramatic-comeback-against-aston-villa\/","title":{"rendered":"Four takeaways from Man Utd\u2019s dramatic comeback against Aston Villa \u2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The post-Sir Alex Ferguson years of Manchester United have often proven downbeat and underwhelming, but few iterations of the Red Devils have been as confounding and confusing as this one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Erik ten Hag\u2019s 2023\/24 outfit have flattered to deceive for the most part. If you were being generous, you can offset a lot of their dismal performances and results down to their varying injury crises, but things shouldn\u2019t be\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0bad.<\/p>\n

United\u00a0showed their very best qualities to come from behind and beat third-placed Aston Villa 3-2 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. Here are\u00a090min\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0key takeaways from that victory.<\/p>\n

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Marcus Rashford from the left, Alejandro Garnacho from the right \u2013 end of story<\/h2>\n
\"Marcus<\/figure>\n

Rashford finally put in a good display \/ James Gill \u2013 Danehouse\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Marcus Rashford\u2018s best football has always come when coming inside from the left.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Garnacho is one of the Premier League\u2019s quickest players and is capable of going both ways at full tilt.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t have taken Ten Hag\u00a0this long<\/em>\u00a0to realise how to get his star wide-men reading from the same hymn sheet.<\/p>\n

Though sometimes his body language was at times\u2026let\u2019s say \u2018suboptimal\u2019\u2026Rashford\u2019s quality really raced to the surface up against Villa\u2019s naive high line. Likewise, Garnacho was able to twist and turn his way infield as well as around the outside. A defiant second half display should have served both well moving forward.<\/p>\n

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Rasmus Hojlund shouldn\u2019t have needed a miracle<\/h2>\n
\"Rasmus<\/figure>\n

Hojlund\u2019s drought is over \/ Nathan Stirk\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Rasmus Hojlund\u00a0claimed he was the\u00a0\u2018happiest man alive\u2019\u00a0in the aftermath of his winning goal \u2013 the Dane\u2019s first in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

But it shouldn\u2019t have taken 15 sodding games for him to score a league goal. That\u2019s ridiculous. Some of the blame is in part down to him for not even fashioning some luck to find the net, but United generally have done an awful chance of feeding their centre forward. Even this goal required a bit of fortune and quick-thinking to react quickest from a corner.<\/p>\n

Hojlund\u2019s impressive Champions League performances proved he has the tools needed to dominate centre-backs and harass defenders. Now he just needs a consistent stream of service.<\/p>\n

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INEOS have plenty of work to do<\/h2>\n
\"Sir<\/figure>\n

Brailsford watched on at Old Trafford \/ Nathan Stirk\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s match was the first since the club announced a deal with INEOS to purchase a 25% stake in the club.<\/p>\n

The chemicals company were represented at the game by Sir Dave Brailsford, who will become a United director once the transaction has been approved by the Premier League.<\/p>\n

Fortunately or unfortunately, he was treated to a true Jekyll & Hyde performance from his new team. The glaring deficiencies were probably more obvious than the potential despite United\u2019s resounding fightback to earn the three points.<\/p>\n

This version of United remain a work in progress, and boy will INEOS know that.<\/p>\n

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Erik ten Hag has bought himself more time<\/h2>\n
\"Erik<\/figure>\n

Pressure has been mounting on Ten Hag \/ Nathan Stirk\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

There has understandably been quite a bit of speculation regarding the future of\u00a0Ten Hag\u00a0in recent weeks. New ownership groups \u2013 in this case, at least ones with power in the football department \u2013 sometimes want to mark their new reign with a fresh change of manager. United\u2019s woeful results and performances would be enough of an excuse anyway to part ways with Ten Hag and start afresh.<\/p>\n

But the club can\u2019t keep chopping and changing like that. The 2023\/24 season has raised questions over the destination of the Dutchman\u2019s project, but he does deserve more time to find a solution. He should at least be granted the use of a fit squad with most of his star players healthy again.<\/p>\n

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