Goals: Manchester United—Januzaj 29'
Recap: Not even a captivating atmosphere was enough to breath life into Manchester United's 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on Friday.
A pragmatic first half generated minimal chances, with the only moment of individual brilliance coming in the 29th minute. An unlikely start from Adnan Januzaj in the No. 10 role culminated in the opening goal. Very little followed after the break. Of the 14 combined attempts on the evening, only three managed to land on target.
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Despite another 90 minutes of pedestrian football, United climb to first in the Premier League table with six points.
Key Moment: Why bother writing the laws of the game if the officials will continue to disregard them? Facing a corner-kick situation, United right-back Matteo Darmian decided the only way he can contain Micah Richards inside the box was by holding on for dear life. He succeeding in doing so, escaping punishment for a clear penalty.
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Man of the Match: Juan Mata looked comfortable in each of his 65 touches. The Spanish international completed 94 percent of his passes and finished with an assist.
Javier Hernandez: Chicharito remained in a very familiar place on Friday: the bench. As usual, the 27-year-old failed to see the pitch in any capacity.
Deflected in but a lovely goal from Januzaj to give United a 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/A6h3DD52ah
— Arsène's Son (@hughwizzy) August 14, 2015
Lesson Learned: If this is the side United manager Louis van Gaal intends to compete with this campaign, Godspeed. A lackluster 90 minutes against Tottenham in the season opener was followed by a coma-inducing performance in Birmingham on Friday. It proved to be inconsequential against the likes of Villa and Tottenham—two clubs who will never aspire to be European Champions—but will no longer be the case moving forward.
Champions League competition is on the horizon, this level of quality—or a lack thereof—will be punished as the stage grows larger in size.
Up Next: Manchester United host the first leg of a Champions League playoff against Club Brugge on Aug. 18, while Aston Villa travel to Crystal Palace on Aug. 22.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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