Manchester United do not have a football team, more a collection of adrenaline junkies.
So deficient are they that they surely can’t keep their manager Michael Carrick in a job for much longer. For the most part United are shambolic, a mess. At times they play football so devoid of intelligence, competence and belief that it’s almost impossible to fathom. They look uncoached.
Yet here they were for the second night running at Old Trafford, completing a lap of honour while their supporters sang the name of Carrick as he completed his own journey across the front of the Stretford End towards the tunnel.
United – it’s worth pointing out at this stage – are third from bottom of the Premier League. They haven’t won in the league since August and have conceded more goals across all competitions – 30 – than any team bar Crystal Palace in Europe’s top divisions.
But at Old Trafford they will cling to anything these days to help them look in the mirror without laughing and currently the currency is comebacks. There was one against Roma in the Champions League last Tuesday and here – quite remarkably – there were two in one game.
None of it should really mean anything in the grand scheme. United are rotten, capable of playing effectively only when something gives them an energy spike. It won’t sustain them or indeed their fumbling, failing manager. But for the moment it’s what they have and what they are.
Patrick Dorgu (centre) scored a late equaliser as troubled Man United drew 4-4 vs Aston Villa
Dorgu scored in the 96th-minute with this header but United sit 18th in the Premier League
Despite the draw, Michael Carrick’s position as United head coach looks increasingly doubtful
Here, they were two down in four minutes as Aston Villa’s Alysson and Nicolas Jackson scored. Carrick looked at his watch. There were 86 minutes to go. It could either get better or much worse.
Once again, there was a response. United played well for a while and were level by half-time thanks to a Bruno Fernandes penalty and a Youri Tielemans goal against his old club.
If that had been a dramatic 45 minutes, something even more extraordinary was to come as United fell apart again – John McGinn and Leon Goretzka scoring for Villa early in the second half – only to somehow rescue the game in added time.
That was a finale that, in truth, had not been coming.
Villa had coasted through the latter stages of the game. United’s race looked run.
But a goal from substitute Joshua Zirkzee in the 92nd minute slipped United in to helter skelter mode again and when another replacement, Patrick Dorgu, headed in from a corner four minutes later nobody here was remotely surprised.
On the touchline Carrick raised a single finger to the sky. In the directors’ box – where the TV companies seem to have a camera permanently trained these days – fist pumps were in evidence.
None of it should mean much in the long run. The United supporters have identified the problems and a collection of new banners spelled them out in the crowd. Bad owners are at the heart of it all.
Aston Villa took the lead after just 59 seconds when Alysson (centre) scored at Old Trafford
Nicolas Jackson (centre) doubled the visitors’ lead on four minutes as they made a dream start
But for now, Carrick – who amazingly seems to be spared any of the blame – and his players will stumble on. From low to high and back down again.
United’s opening against Roma had been traumatic enough. This was worse but the root of it was desperately familiar. Players not doing their jobs well enough. Players not concentrating. As such only four minutes had passed and we were already looking at the TV shots of United kingmakers Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox looking ever greyer in the directors’ box. At Old Trafford, that one is becoming part of the regular theatre.
The first goal involved United defender Diogo Dalot. When doesn’t it these days? The Portuguese defender has played more than 250 games for the club and is in many ways symptomatic of the club’s malaise. He was later booed off after by his own fans after giving away a second half penalty.
Dalot isn’t good enough and once again we saw it here. Villa moved the ball left to right across the United box but although Villa’s Brazilian attacker Alysson was in space, Dalot was favourite to close down his shot. Still the Villa player was allowed to prevail and once the shot had powered through Dalot’s limp challenge and between the legs of goalkeeper Senne Lammens, the visiting team were ahead.
Dalot offered a half wave of apology to his goalkeeper that was as weak as he had been in the tackle. All rather typical.
With less than a minute gone, United were in familiar territory. Three minutes later, the mire deepened as Lammens failed to hold an Alysson shot from 18 yards and Jackson moved in to poke in the rebound from four yards.
Once again United were in sink or swim territory. Once again, amazingly, they kept their heads above water – at least for a while.
The comeback that sparked such hope in the first half wasn’t immediately apparent and didn’t really take off until their penalty arrived around the quarter hour.
Boubacar Kamara’s challenge on Matheus Cunha was stupid as the Brazilian was heading away from goal. But the Fernandes penalty was calm and precise and the adrenaline shot United needed was theirs.
Bruno Fernandes pulled one back for the hosts with a penalty on 16 minutes in a crazy start
Youri Tielemans (right) brought United level before half-time with this strike vs his old club
For the next 20 minutes or so, Carrick’s team were excellent. Fuelled no doubt by the adrenaline shot of their goal, the United front four pressed and harried the Villa defence to the extent that Emery’s team couldn’t get up the field.
Villa keeper Zion Suzuki saved well from a Cunha curler but was lucky to see three subsequent shots – from Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo – take deflections and narrowly miss the target.
At some stage it felt as though United’s energy must drop. Over time it did. But just as the game threatened to become more even again, they equalised.
A right-sided overlap had been fruitful all half and finally it paid off. Moments after seeing Suzuki save one of his own efforts, Amad found space to pull the ball back for Tielemans who placed his first United goal in from 18 yards against his old club. Suzuki complained that Bryan Mbeumo was blocking his sight of the shot and he was right. However, the United forward was not offside.
Carrick allowed himself a brief show of emotion after that goal. His team deserved to be level at that stage and had played some enterprising football to get there. But within two minutes of the second half starting, they were behind again.
Alysson had almost scored with the last big moment of the first half, running free to clip a shot over Lammens and wide. In the 47th minute, however, he drew a dumb foul out of Dalot – who else? – and McGinn scored the penalty firmly at the Stretford End.
United – with Harry Maguire replaced by Ayden Heaven at half-time – are beyond compare in the Premier League when it comes to self-harm. Who else in the top flight concedes the kind of goals they do?
John McGinn put Villa ahead again just minutes after half-time from the penalty spot
Leon Goretkza (left) made it 4-2 to Villa with this close-range strike as they looked set to win
A case in point came in the 53rd minute. McGinn’s free-kick from the right was heading across goal and away when United defender Leny Yoro inexplicably headed it towards his own goal.
Lammens produced probably his save of the season to touch the ball on to the bar but when it dropped Goretzka poked it in.
That was the 16th goal United had conceded in the last four and a half games. Not many of them have been excusable and this time the attempt at a fightback was more muted until yet another extraordinary finale.
Carrick’s changes included the removal of Dalot and he was booed off. Brutal and unedifying but entirely understandable.
As United endeavoured to do something unlikely for the third time in six days, the energy was harder to find. There were some half chances. Shots from Cunha and Fernandes and there was some territory in which to play.
Joshua Zirkzee (left) pulled one back in second-half stoppage-time with this finish for United
But this was a game Villa were now able to control rather better without the ball and they looked set to ease to the finish line until Dorgu crossed for Zirkzee to ease a goal in from out of nothing in the second minute of added time.
Suddenly we were back in ‘could it be’ territory.
Old Trafford was only two-thirds full by this time but those who had headed for the pub would have heard the roar that greeted Dorgu’s 96th minute header. Villa appealed for a foul on goalkeeper Suzuki and it’s true that Lemmens had gone looking for him.
Was the contact between the two ‘keepers significant enough to warrant VAR intervention? Probably not. United had their draw and they had a point. That lap of honour followed by those in red. Strange times indeed. It cannot be allowed to go on.
READ: Man United 4-4 Aston Villa PLAYER RATINGS: Who looks like the only ray of light at Old Trafford? Whose display was a mess? And which 3/10 star was absolutely hopeless?
