Nothing's Changed

Manchester United 0 - Aston Villa 1
Scorer
Aston Villa: Agbonlahor (21)

Team: Kuszczak, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson (Gibson 68), Park (Berbatov 63), Valencia, Giggs (Owen 45), Rooney

Nothing's changed very much around here. Chelsea screwed up against an understrengthed Everton earlier in the day and we, as usual, followed suit. Actually we went one up and proceeded to lose the game. In fact this was a result just waiting to happen. We've been shit recently despite our so-called convincing wins in the past couple of Premiership fixtures. It was no surprise to me that we faltered today.

What made things worse was that Ferguson threw up a lineup that just screamed at Villa to come at us. Maybe he was thinking of quick counters, but you start one up front at home, it's just asking for trouble.

Yet despite looking like shit, we actually played a good game. We gave the Villa defense a good run around but were simply unable to find the net. This was when putting one up front hurt us the most. Rooney was left alone up there and for most of the game, he came running back to midfield to pick up the ball, leaving no one upfront to shoulder the responsibility.

Agbonlahor punished us for our failure to find the net in the 21st minute with a superb header. We spent most of the game in the Villa half but the woodwork and poor positioning kept them in front.

Perhaps realising his mistake, Ferguson put Owen into the game for Giggs. Word out there is that Giggs was injured, but personally I would have taken Park out instead. It's obvious to the neutral that Park just wasn't up for it even though he ran his socks off. He just hasn't been the same since coming back from injury.

We continued to be as toothless as an old woman without her dentures. Berbatov and Gibson were both thrown into the fray and failed to make any significant impact. I personally would have liked to see Obertan take on the Villa defense. They had a relatively easy time handling our short passes. Having someone like Obertan run at the defenders could have created more havoc.

Villa ran out 1-0 winners at Old Trafford, breaking their winless streak since god knows when. While it's not exactly at terrible result since Chelsea could only draw, we still lost ground. What was truely despairing is that I can't see how we can get better. There were poor decisions from the coaching staff right down to the players. Again I cannot put a finger on exactly what is wrong with us. Maybe it's just everything.