Five lessons from United’s narrow win at Villa Park – points on Rooney, Januzaj, Mata & more.
A look at five things we learned from Manchester United’s 1-0 win away to Aston Villa on Friday night, including some harsh realities for Wayne Rooney…
1) Rooney becoming a liability
It’s been coming for a while, but United’s worst fears are being realised here – Wayne Rooney is no longer good enough to be a regular starter. Moved into a deeper position last season, the England international couldn’t really outshine other creative midfielders at the club, but returning to a central striker role hasn’t worked either. Sluggish and lacking that same spark and flair that used to make him so dangerous, Rooney now looks unconfident and incapable of giving this club what they need in attack, and it would be very worrying indeed for United if they fail to sign another striker before the end of the summer transfer window.
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2) Januzaj can be a key player
There are positives, however, and Adnan Januzaj’s form in this game is one of them. The young Belgian scored a fine goal to seal the win at Villa Park, and this will hopefully show Louis van Gaal how wrong he was not to give him more game time last season, when his being dropped from the team seemed frankly inexplicable given how good he’d been the year before. Still, it’s about taking your chances when they come, and perhaps Januzaj didn’t do that enough last season, whereas now he has a goal to show for his efforts and a fine all-round display.
3) Mata can shine after Di Maria exit
Although disappointing, the exit of Angel Di Maria this summer could allow Juan Mata to truly shine in this United side, as he did in this game. The Spanish playmaker is now the team’s main creator and he’s good enough to have everything flow through him. With a glorious pass to set up Januzaj’s winner, Mata was instrumental in this win and can continue to improve if used regularly and without a similar style of player trying to do the same thing. Too many playmakers can get in each other’s way, as we’ve seen at other top clubs, and Di Maria wasn’t offering enough to justify occasionally stifling Mata.
4) United need to sign a defender
Although United have two clean sheets in their first two games, it looks pretty clear from how they’ve played overall that they will need to sign a world class centre-back in the final weeks of the transfer window. Playing like this all season long, Van Gaal’s side will have some bad defeats when they come up against better opposition, and there’s not enough to suggest from what we’ve seen so far that Daley Blind can be the solution in that position. A Nicolas Otamendi is needed, or a John Stones, or almost anyone.
5) Villa will stay up
A point on Villa, who battled hard and looked competitive in a way that they often didn’t last season. Tim Sherwood’s side has plenty of new players still needing some time to gel, but they should be a better prospect than last year and will surely stay up, perhaps even challenging for a place in mid-table if things go their way.