Gabriel Agbonlahor strikes to make a turkey out of Manchester United

Posted Sunday, December 13, 2009 by theguardian.com

Just when they needed three points to close the gap on misfiring Chelsea, Manchester United went and lost at home to Aston Villa for the first time in living memory. Well, since 1983, to be exact, three years before Sir Alex Ferguson arrived and before Martin O'Neill even tried his hand at management .

Not only have Villa never beaten United in the Premier League era, they have hardly ever drawn either. It has pretty much been one-way traffic in United's favour, which is why their inability to break down Villa, even with three attacking substitutes, was so surprising.

This was not one of those games, either, where heroics from Brad Friedel kept Villa in the hunt. There have been a few of those already this season, yet though he saved from Dimitar Berbatov at the end and was indebted to Stewart Downing for clearing a Nemanja Vidic header off the line, it was one of the Villa goalkeeper's less hectic afternoons.

United did not create that many clear-cut chances. Villa made at least as many and with Richard Dunne and Carlos Cuéllar coping with everything United could throw at them – not that much, to be honest – Villa were good value for their win.

"We had two or three good opportunities, but so did Villa," Ferguson said, fairly. "We pummelled them in the second half, but didn't take our chances."

Villa took one of theirs to make it three wins out of three against top four teams this season. O'Neill tried his best to downplay the achievement, without coming close to succeeding. "I'm delighted," the Villa manager said. "Our record this season is pretty exceptional. There were times when United penned us in, but when we broke out we still made chances. Not only have we tightened up defensively, I thought we played pretty cleverly, standing off their forwards rather than diving in."

Ferguson paid lip service beforehand to the idea that the top four may have a different make-up by the end of the season, though with Spurs losing at home to Wolves and Manchester City having to come back three times to draw at Bolton it did not seem the ideal day on which to make the argument. Nor did it look as if Villa were about to do anything other than prolong their abysmal record during an opening 20 minutes when they stood back and allowed their opponents to give a passing exhibition. Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney and even Ji-Sung Park skipped round Villa defenders with nonchalant ease, without ever managing a convincing end product. With Villa barely able to cross the half- way line, it appeared only a matter of time before United managed to find a combination to work, yet expectations were instantly overturned when the visitors finally put an attack together and showed their hosts how to be more direct.

Gabriel Agbonlahor played a ball out to Ashley Young on the left wing and sped into the area to await the return, and when Tomasz Kuszczak obligingly stayed on his line instead of attempting to collect a cross that cleared Vidic, it was a simple task for Agbonlahor to nod the ball past him.

If Kuszczak was to blame on that occasion, he partly redeemed himself a few minutes later by preventing Agbonlahor finding Emile Heskey in the area after a mistake by Darren Fletcher.

United spent the rest of the half in search of an equaliser, some of their early poise gone and a touch of desperation creeping into their play. Rooney was booked for ludicrously diving in search of a penalty when Luke Young had already pulled out of the tackle, though in fairness the England striker was United's liveliest attacker and was unlucky when he crashed a shot against the bar from Patrice Evra's cross on the half-hour. Apart from that, and a 20-yard drive from Michael Carrick that he dealt with comfortably, Friedel did not have a lot to do before half-time.

Perhaps for that reason Ferguson withdrew Giggs at the interval and sent on Michael Owen. Giggs may be in the frame for Sports Personality of the Year tonight but on the basis of his efforts against Wolfsburg in midweek Owen is more likely to worry a goalkeeper. The substitute linked with Valencia on the right in the 55th minute to send over a tantalising low cross that rolled across goal with Rooney and Park unable to respond quickly enough. Had it been Owen in the middle United might have been in business, but with Rooney energetic rather than effective, this game proved once again that the United attack lacks focus and to some extent discipline. While weaker teams will be worn down or worn out, at the top level you have to be more incisive.

Ferguson added more potency to his attack by bringing first Berbatov off the bench then Darron Gibson, succeeding only in emphasising the fact that his original selection had lacked firepower. "It was one of those days when it just wouldn't go in," Ferguson reckoned, shortly after late misses by Gibson and Berbatov had proved it. It was not United's day, nor Owen's. Agbonlahor and Ashley Young, on the other hand, look as if their time has come.