By OkayGoal
Manchester United were 4-2 down to Aston Villa going into stoppage time at Old Trafford on Sunday, and still came away with a 4-4 draw, as Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu scored in the 92nd and 96th minutes.
It was the second time in the game Manchester United had come back from two goals down. Villa led 2-0 inside four minutes, United levelled before half-time, then Villa scored twice more in the first eight minutes of the second half.
The point does not lift Michael Carrick’s side out of the bottom three. They go into the international break 18th on eight points, one behind Coventry City and Nottingham Forest, and they still have not won a Premier League game since August.
How did Villa go 2-0 up in four minutes?
With almost no resistance. Only 60 seconds had gone when Nicolas Jackson moved the ball to John McGinn, who found Alysson, and the Brazilian’s first-time shot went through Senne Lammens. It was his first goal for Villa.
Less than three minutes later Lammens could only push another Alysson shot into the path of Jackson, who had beaten the offside trap and tapped in from close range for his ninth of the season. It was the earliest United have ever been two goals down in a Premier League game.
Unai Emery, taking charge of his 200th Premier League match, had made three changes from the defeat in Barcelona on Tuesday. Taylor Harwood-Bellis made his first Premier League start for Villa at right-back in place of the suspended Matty Cash, while Leon Goretzka and Alysson came in for Joao Gomes and Emi Buendia.
Fernandes and Tielemans pull United level
United had been here only five days earlier, when they came from two down to beat Roma 3-2 in the Champions League, and the reaction came quickly again. Matheus Cunha drove into the box and was brought down by Boubacar Kamara, and Bruno Fernandes sent Zion Suzuki the wrong way from the spot in the 16th minute.
From there United had their best attacking spell in weeks. Suzuki clawed a curling Cunha shot around the post, Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo had efforts deflected wide, and Amad Diallo was denied when he should have scored.
The equaliser came on the stroke of half-time. Noussair Mazraoui pulled the ball back and Youri Tielemans, taunted by the Villa fans after his £35m summer move from Villa Park, drove it past Suzuki for his first goal for United.
Man United 4-4 Aston Villa: where did it go wrong again?
Straight after the restart. Harry Maguire, a doubt before the game, did not come out for the second half and Ayden Heaven replaced him. Within three minutes Diogo Dalot brought Alysson down in the box, and McGinn sent Lammens the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Five minutes later it was 4-2. McGinn’s free-kick reached the back post, Leny Yoro headed it towards his own goal and off the woodwork, and after Jackson got a touch to the loose ball, Goretzka forced it home for his first Villa goal.
Carrick sent on Shea Lacey, Mason Mount and Dorgu for Amad, Tielemans and Dalot after 66 minutes. Mount hit the bar with a first-time shot, but for a long time the game looked done, and plenty of home fans had already left.
Zirkzee, then Dorgu in the 96th minute
Zirkzee, on for Bryan Mbeumo, swept in what looked like a consolation two minutes into stoppage time. Then, from the very last corner, Suzuki flapped at the ball and Dorgu headed into the net to send Old Trafford wild.
Dorgu, on for only half an hour, made one goal and scored the other. Carrick, under so much pressure, simply raised one finger to the crowd.
‘Angry, of course’: what did Emery say?
Villa’s head coach did not hide it. Emery said in his press conference: “Angry, of course. To accept to lose in the last minutes two goals, it is difficult. I am angry for the situation, not with the players. We lost the opportunity to have two points more.”
He pointed to the crowd and to United’s left side for the late collapse: “They did the same here against Roma with the supporters pushing, they were playing with heart. The last moments when we were close to finishing the match, with Dorgu left side, we couldn’t defend him good.”
Emery, who has just committed his future to Villa, also backed United to climb the table: “Yes, definitely. The Premier League is very difficult. You must be so, so demanding but they have the capacity, powerful players to overcome this situation.”
It is still a sixth league game unbeaten for Aston Villa, and they go into the break 10th. They are back at Villa Park against Sunderland on Saturday 21 November (3pm).
Keane: they kept going
Roy Keane, speaking on Sky Sports, gave United some credit for the fight but not much more: “As bad as the game was from a football point of view they kept going until the end. They kept going, so you have to give them a little bit of praise.”
He was less kind about the defending and the goalkeeper: “If you’re giving up four goals at home, you make it so hard for yourself. When they were on a good run of results last year, the goalkeeper was doing very well, making a lot of big saves, he’s not doing that.”
Does the draw save Carrick?
For two weeks, probably. Late comebacks against Roma and Villa have bought him time, and the Stretford End sang his name while aiming its anger at the Glazers and the club’s owners. But the numbers are grim. United have now gone 11 games without a clean sheet, nine domestic games without a win, and their next league match is away at Liverpool.
Lammens, so good earlier in the season, was at fault for both early goals. Dalot gave away the penalty. Yoro set up the fourth. That is three of the back five making big mistakes in one afternoon, and no amount of spirit fixes that over a full season.
Carrick has the break to work on it. If United keep conceding four at home, though, two Houdini acts in a week will not be remembered for long. Back in the bottom three, with the board still undecided, the next game at Anfield already looks like his biggest yet.