United v Villa - 13/01/07 - 3pm

[Sky Sports 1]

Larsson and Rooney start up top, Giggs is out, Brown is out, Vidic, Van Der Sar and Scholes back in.

[Stew]

Park presumably for Giggs?

[missunited]

To anyone who's not noticed, the shoutbox is open on the main page

[danishred]

I guess this will quiet the Park critics! a goal and an assists

[missunited]

A goal and an assist doesn't mean he is a talented footballer though He is one hell of a hard worker though.

Good result for us this. Carrick had another good match, didn't expect him to get a goal though, nice goal as well. Rooney needs rest, had anoter average match if that, and at some point Sir Alex is going to have to say enough is enough. Larsson looked dangerous despite not scoring, nice to have Scholes back too. Ronaldo had another very very good match. Park worked very hard, running all over the place. Defence did well, although they didn't have that much troubling them.

All in all, a good result, another three points, and that's what matters

[missunited]

United 3 Aston Villa 1

MICHAEL Carrick celebrated his first goal for Manchester United as Sir Alex Ferguson's side cemented their place at the top of the table.

The £18million buy from Tottenham may have taken time to open his account but the midfielder is certainly not fazed by the big stage.

Old Trafford hosted a record crowd of 76,073 as United continued to put the squeeze on Chelsea.
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However Villa made it easy for them with some shocking defending and have now failed to win in 12 games.

United winger Cristiano Ronaldo was presented with his Barclays player-of -the-month award before kick-off, and he marked the occasion by taking his tally to 13 goals with Ji-Sung Park also on target.

United ran the show from the off and Henrik Larsson almost made the breakthrough in the fourth minute after being set up by Gary Neville.

The on-loan striker peeled away from his marker to power in a header that was superbly tipped away by Thomas Sorensen.

United did take the lead in the 11th minute after Gary Cahill's miskick six yards out. Park was first to react and found the corner with his effort for his first goal of the season.

Sprung

United made in 2-0 two minutes later with Carrick finally showing his scoring prowess, taking a ball from Park in his stride before sending in a half-volley that went under Sorensen's body.

There was a scare for United in the 26th minute when Gabriel Agbonlahor sprung the offside trap.

He homed in on goal but Edwin van der Sar stood tall to make a good block and keep United's two-goal advantage.

United went 3-0 ahead and effectively ended the game as a contest in the 34th minute after Park won possession off Gavin McCann.

The Korea midfielder found Carrick and his cross was headed home at the far post for Ronaldo to score his 13th goal of the season.

United were controlling the midfield and Paul Scholes released Carrick in the 43rd minute but he lofted his effort high over the bar.

A minute later Wayne Rooney should have extended their lead after good work by Ronaldo. The England striker turned quickly on the edge of the area only to drag his effort wide of the post.

Deficit

Villa reduced the deficit after 51 minutes when Agbonlahor scored from close range after a good run and cross from Milan Baros.

Rooney was putting in a hard shift with little reward and came close to finding the target after 63 minutes.

He carved out an opening for himself but Sorensen was equal to his effort from an acute angle.

United threw on an additional striker a minute later with Louis Saha replacing goalscorer Park, the Frenchman habing made a swift recovery from the groin injury he suffered only 12 days ago at Newcastle.

Saha was quickly into action and saw his goal-bound effort blocked on the line by Cahill as United stepped up the pressure.

Larsson came close to scoring in the 72nd minute when he got away from Liam Ridgewell on the edge of the area.

He rattled in a shot but Sorensen got down quickly to turn his effort away at the post.

A minute later Rooney was out of luck his curler from 20 yards coming back off the bar.

Larsson came off in the 79th minute and was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who scored a late winner in the cup victory last weekend. While United failed to add to their first-half tally the victory keeps Chelsea at arm`s length.

---

United v Villa: Player ratings

Van der Sar: Safe pair of hands whenever called upon but left exposed for goal 7

Neville: Villa never had any joy attempting to raid down his flank 7

Evra: Brilliant effort from the left back. Unbeatable in defence and a threat going forward 8

Ferdinand: Never really in any danger from Villa 7
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Vidic: Back from a virus and Baros bugged him on a number of occasions 6

Ronaldo: Quieter by his fantastically high standards but moments of crowd pleasing stuff and another goal 7

Carrick: First United goal at last and in the first half he provided a number of killer passes 8

Scholes: His brilliant first half influence put United on Easy Street 8

Park: Here, there and everywhere. An invigorating display plus the bonus of a goal 8

Rooney: Hitting the bar and Louis Saha's back summed up his day. Booking summed up his frustration. Nothing quite came off for him 6

Larsson: Hard to beat debut impact and Sorensen denied him another Reds goals a couple of times 6

Subs:

Saha (sub Park 65): Lively start to appearance 5

Solskjaer (sub Larsson 80): No chances to add to his reputation 5

O'Shea (sub Carrick 80): Ten-minutes to stretch legs 5

Giggs, Kuszczak not used

Aston Villa: Sorensen, Mellberg, Barry, McCann, Baros, Agbonlahor, Bouma (Samuel 45), Hughes (Davis 45), Ridgewell, Cahill, Osbourne

Goals:

United: Park (11), Carrick (12), Ronaldo (35)

Villa: Agbonlahor (52)

Bookings:

United: Rooney (75)

Villa: Barry (25)

Referee: H Webb - On top of an uncontroversial game. 7

Attendance: 76,073

[Scott]

Great first 45 minutes, United played some absolutely stunning football. Ronaldo and Evra really are a joy to watch, their touches and flicks, lol, they just take the piss.

Great to see Park get his first goal of the season after being injured for so long, even better to see Carrick get his first goal in a United shirt. The goals were pretty similar actually, both creeping in to the bottom corner. Carrick has a great game today, passing and tackling well. Still, dont see any need in the crowd to call for him to shoot from outside the box. And of course, the man of the moment, Ronaldo. Easy goal provided for him really.

Things dried up a bit in the 2nd half. Villa's goal came out of nowhere, but really, should have been dealt with. But oh well. United still commanded and still most of the game was spent in their half. Larsson did well again today, really is selfless and eager to provide for others, which is a great attitude to have.

One moan of the match, Wayne Rooney. His head looks really down at the moment. He hit the woodwork again today I suppose, but he looks off. He's losing the ball pretty much every time he gets it, it's so strange. He's trying to do ridiculous things and looks so fucked off when they dont work. Considering Saha came on and had a shot cleared off the line and played in some great linking passes, Rooney needs to start worrying about his first team place... and in a way, he probably should get dropped, to give him a chance to sort out his head.

All in all, good performance from United and another 3 points. Our goal difference is incredible.

[redom]

I think most of us felt this would be quite a comfortable game today, with Scholes back and Villa missing a few, it was nice to see us go out and but the game pretty much beyond doubt in the first half instead of missing chances and making us sweat, great to see Park score and get invloved in the other goals too, I think he's a valuable member of the squad and I'm glad he's back playing. Carrick should take encouragement from that goal and hopefully we see a couple more from him before the end of the season (though I doubt he's going to become a free scoring midfielder now) and Ronaldo's keeping up his great form, looked dangerous again (the hattrick of PoM's is on).

It'll be interesting to see what Fergie does next week with Rooney because Larsson can play his position and with Saha fit there's a real arguement for him to be dropped, it's a massive game and it might be best for the team.

[moxdevil]

Good performance today from the lads. Evra and Scholes for me were united's best players today. Evra is now our starting left back, simple as. Was fun watching Ronnie put Mellberg on his arse time after time in the first half. ;D

[Kamilo]

manchester united. top of the league!

[Busby Boy]

Scholes and Carrick were my men of the match, I fuckin' hate conceding stupid goals. Vidic should've dealt with Baros but he never, oh well.

Great result, great performance. I thought Rooney's shot was in, he just needs the ball to go in to lift the weight off his shoulders because he's doing everything else well in my opinion.

Ronaldo didn't do much in the game but still come out of it with a goal, that's the sort of form he's in right now.

We're six clear with a difficult trip to the Emirates, we need a victory and in this sort of form I wouldn't bet against it!

[danishred]

Bring on Le Arse!

[Sky Sports 1]

mufcadz said:

Great result, great performance. I thought Rooney's shot was in, he just needs the ball to go in to lift the weight off his shoulders because he's doing everything else well in my opinion.

It wouldn't suprise me if the next time Wayne scores, it hits his arse and goes in

He's just been so unlucky, all the other parts to his game are there, all the usual parts, just the confidence and that luck with his finishing.

The only thing today was it started to affect other parts of his game, his confidence when dribbling, his touches and awareness. Fergie's right, he just needs a goal, i'm sure he'll play against Arsenal and maybe get a rest after that. Once he gets one goal though, he'll probably make it extremely hard for Fergie to drop or rest him.

[Carlito's Way]

marrymeheinze said:

This fixtures getting boring. 3-1. Carrick diving header (he's a big lad he must be able to head...oh wait Crouch is fairly large...) to open the scoring and then a Rio left foot, right foot, head hat trick.

Well I was sort of right...how weird.

[tom]

Great performance, did the hard work then coasted home, I will make a prediction here, rooney will score next week