Van de Beek is eager but barely been on the ball. Fred and Fernandes are providing the impetus from midfield and United are transitioning the ball quite quickly.
The commentator suggested the match commissioner had recommended using a helicopter to dry the pitch. Martial’s movement has been very sharp again tonight, often making a run across the defence from right to left, trying to get on the end of neat little passes from Rashford and Fernandes. It’s got him into dangerous areas in the penalty area a couple of times already.
Watkins works the ball well down the right flank with his quick feet and he plays a teasing ball across the goal. Villa fail to capitalise and the chance is eventually squandered, though.
That is another excellent team goal United have not been associated with for several years. They worked it from right to left superbly, a particularly laudable move given the surface. It was an attack that involved both full-backs and the front four. United just weren’t scoring goals like that under Rangnick or Solskjaer. They did under Van Gaal, although they were few and far between and the regularity of these team goals on tour is encouraging.
Sancho has started on the right in each of United’s four games on tour and he’s looked bright, dangerous and confident. If Sancho can continue to perform in that position, it will be a huge pre-season positive.
This tour might well be remembered for the quality of United’s goals. It can be dangerous to read too much into pre-season fixtures that are inevitably played at a slower pace, but the improvement in the quality of United’s football after just four weeks under Ten Hag is eye-catching. They are playing much higher up the pitch, the movement is better and the options have improved for the man on the ball. There’s been some slick moves on tour and a few of them have ended up with the ball in the back of the net.
What a lovely long pass from Fred who finds the timely run of Jadon Sancho who then square the ball for Marcus Rashford but Cash scored an own goal. Man united 2 – Aston Villa 0 at Halft time#MUNAVL #GGMU Manchester United is back #MUTOUR2022 pic.twitter.com/D1ESQn1Xrw
— Adeyinka Adenaike (@Arisenaija) July 23, 2022