Jadon Sancho shines but Erik ten Hag’s Man Utd winning run ends – 5 talking points

Manchester United yet again took on Premier League opposition when they faced off with Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa for the final fixture of the Red Devils pre-season tour

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Man Utd train in Perth rain ahead of Aston Villa friendly

Erik ten Hag failed to guide Manchester United to yet another pre-season victory over Aston Villa to ensure his impressive unbeaten record as Red Devils boss remains intact.

It looked incredibly likely that United would hold on for a 2-1 win to mark four wins from four on this leg of their pre-season tour which has seen the club travel from Bangkok, Thailand to Burswood, Australia but Calum Chambers had other ideas.

Jadon Sancho registered his third goal of this tour just before the 25th minute after Luke Shaw’s deft cross was emphatically volleyed home by the former Borussia Dortmund man from close-range.

Sancho was at the centre of things once again for the second, this time registering an assist for a bizarre strike that will go down as a Matty Cash own goal after Marcus Rashford shanked his effort.

Leon Bailey made an instant impact after being brought on at half-time by pulling one back for Steven Gerrard’s side four minutes into the second-half and it eventually helped inspire a comeback as Chambers nodded home with the last touch of the game to ensure it ended honours even.

Here are the main talking points from a topsy-turvy, rain-sodden affair in Australia.

Maguire boo boys drowned out Harry Maguire showed signs of improvement against Aston Villa

The much-maligned Manchester United skipper was subjected to boos every time he touched the ball last time out, which prompted some tough love from manager Ten Hag.

However, while there was still a faint chorus of jeers early on – Maguire was greeted with much more love and affection from the United faithful this time.

Speaking after the recent win over Crystal Palace, the United boss said: “About Maguire, we heard it, but you see, if you perform, it slows down [quietens down].

“I think the team – and Harry Maguire – impressed by the way we played. I don’t think it’s the manner to find out if I understand it. It’s about how can we change it. So it’s the team and Harry himself, by performing. That is what we’re working on, that is the only focus.”

The central defender heeded his manager’s advice and enjoyed a solid, error-free performance that in turn got the United faithful off of his back.

In extremely adverse weather conditions at times, Maguire remained composed with the ball at his feet on a pitch that was significantly below the level of quality both sets of players are used to operating on.

His own personal highlight came when Maguire prevented a certain goal after Leon Bailey had rounded David de Gea before the Jamaican saw his effort blocked by the United captain.

Sancho stars again Jadon Sancho opened the scoring for Manchester United

After an undeniably underwhelming debut campaign at Old Trafford last term, Sancho’s pre-season showings are inspiring plenty of optimism that things will turn around this season.

The England international has netted in three of the four games on this tour against Liverpool, Crystal Palace and now Villa – the latest an absolutely delightful composed volley against Gerrard’s men.

He was also on hand to provide the vital pass for United’s second, dinking the ball back across goal to find Rashford who was very fortunate to see his wayward effort come off Cash and into the back of the net.

There is hope that Ten Hag is the man to help Sancho return to the kind of form that made him so lethal in the Bundesliga. United’s £73m man has spoke glowingly over the impact the new manager has had already.

“You can see in the games, as I said before, with how we’re playing and there being a lot more structure and opportunities to score, and we’re keeping the ball more too and being effective [with it],” Sancho said, waxing lyrical over Ten Hag’s tactics that were yet again on full display against Villa.

Ten Hag’s line-up dilemma Erik ten Hag has explained how those chosen to start against Villa are not necessarily in his first-choice line-up

Any United fans who were pondering whether the team deployed against Villa is potentially an indicator into Ten Hag’s preferred starting eleven has had their questions answered before kick-off.

The United boss was pressed for comment as to whether the line-up on Saturday is close to his first-choice, to which he responded: “I’m not talking about starting eleven.

“We have to construct a squad and from there we can picking the starting eleven to start the games depending on the opponents.”

The Dutchman made very few tweaks to his line-up from the previous fixture, with nine of those who started against Palace last Tuesday also playing from the beginning against Villa.

A game of two halves The two teams both enjoyed spells of dominance during the game

United started the game clearly the better of the two teams and wasted very little time in asserting their dominance. Wave after wave of white-shirts bombarded Villa’s goal and came in at half-time boasting a two-goal advantage.

Yet once Villa had made a whole host of changes after the interval, the momentum seemed to shift entirely. Bailey’s goal provided Gerrard’s side with some momentum and they could have had an equaliser minutes later but an in-swinging corner evaded everyone.

Shortly after the hour mark, it was Ten Hag’s turn to make an astonishing number of changes and with that any foothold or control United did have was subsequently relinquished.

The contest ended up as quite a scrappy, end to end bout that saw some nervy moments for the United back-line before Villa eventually bundled home an equaliser right at the death.

Gerrard’s cause for concern Steven Gerrard cut a frustrated figure on the touchline in Perth

The Liverpool legend and current Villa boss may be worried by the shockingly drab first-half performance put in by his players considering it was very close to the club’s first-choice starting line-up.

Stellar names such as Philippe Coutinho, Danny Ings, Olly Watkins and Tyrone Mings all started from the off but were woefully off the pace and gave United far too much time and respect both in and out of possession.

The first 45 minutes saw Gerrard’s side enjoy just 33 per-cent of possession as well as a feeble one shot on goal – which did not end up on target.

Villa actually improved significantly when a large number of their second-string and plethora of fringe players were introduced to try and turn things around – a task in which they succeeded in doing with their last-gasp heroics.

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