Man United vs Aston Villa Live Football Match Score 06/11/2022
The Red Devils were in for Barcelona’s Frenkie De Jong for much of the summer but are said to have turned their efforts towards Bellingham. Erik ten Hag’s side face Real Sociedad in Europa League action on Thursday night and United have been handed a boost as Anthony Martial has returned to training. The Frenchman was in good form before picking up an injury and will look to earn his place in the starting XI for Thursday’s clash. Manchester United have revived their interest in £100million-rated England and Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham, according to the Mirror. United tried to sign the 19-year-old midfielder from Birmingham in the summer of 2020 and pulled out all the stops, including Sir Alex Ferguson giving the youngster a personal tour of the training ground.
But United were left reeling when Bellingham snubbed them in favour of joining German side Dortmund in a deal worth £25million. United have not given up on signing Bellingham, with the teenager having emerged as boss Erik ten Hag’s top transfer target for next summer. In other news, Antony will not feature in the crunch Europa League clash against Real Sociedad on Thursday night after failing to recover from a knock in time. Jadon Sancho also misses the game because of illness. Anthony Martial has been left out of the squad after only just returning to full training, while Victor Lindelof has recovered from illness in time to be involved and there is a return for Aaron Wan-Bissaka following more than two months out injured.
Elsewhere, Manchester United are preparing to offer Marcus Rashford a big bumper contract to secure his long term future. The 25-year-old has entered the final eight months of his £200,000 a week deal – although United have the option to trigger another year. Rashford could speak to foreign clubs as soon as January and has attracted interest from the likes of PSG. But the Red Devils are keen to tie him down to a new long-term deal and could activate the one year option to give them more time, according to the Mail. Jamie Carragher does not think Manchester United will finish in the top four this season. He said: “I do think the north London clubs will both get in it now, I really do believe that, I have loved watching Arsenal they’ve been almost my favourite team to watch this season. “I think Liverpool will get in there ahead of Chelsea and then the two north London clubs alongside Man City.
“But I think it will be a fight that will go right to the wire and as a Liverpool supporter if you offered me top four now I would bite your hand off because I think Liverpool are in a right fight for that, they could easily finish sixth.” It has been 696 days since Donny van de Beek last started a meaningful Premier League match for Manchester United and he was hooked at half-time that day with United a goal down. They beat West Ham 3-1. Van de Beek’s only other starts in the league were in May 2021 against Leicester and Wolves. The former was staged two days before the rearranged fixture with Liverpool, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rotated en masse, and he did likewise at Molineux as the Europa League final was three days later.
At Villa Park on Sunday, it will have been 701 days and the wait may go on for Van de Beek. Bruno Fernandes is suspended and Van de Beek would be the natural replacement, only the Dutchman has missed six weeks of the season. Fernandes has earned the rock star treatment but he is a conundrum. He has been at his best for United with turnstiles locked and looks stricken whenever he shares the pitch with Cristiano Ronaldo. Since it emerged some felt Ronaldo’s presence harmed Fernandes’s own impact, the difference has been as stark as night and day. Against Tottenham and Chelsea, Ronaldo was unused, Fernandes scored and Chelsea were unlocked twice in the first-half. With Ronaldo recalled, Fernandes was cowed. He has also been relocated to the wing twice in the last three games.
During pre-season, Fernandes bristled at a query over whether he would have to adapt his game to be more aligned with Erik ten Hag’s approach. He misheard ‘tweak’ as ‘weaken’. “I don’t understand that type of question of keeping the ball or whatever it is. I keep the ball when I think I have to keep it, I try a pass when I think I have to do it and sometimes it goes good, sometimes wrong. “Obviously, when it goes wrong, I know that shouldn’t be the one, but sometimes when you play in the 10 position you have only a few seconds to think and control the ball and make the pass, so it’s not that much time to think.
“I understand of course, that someone has his own opinion, but when I arrived in 2020 I was losing the same amount of balls in those six months and then the year after I lost the same amount of balls, but I scored 28 goals, so people don’t complain about that. Now last season, because I scored only 10, because for some people it’s only 10 goals, people start complaining.” Sandwiched between Harry Maguire’s goal-saving block and David de Gea’s goal-saving denial of Declan Rice in stoppage-time, Fernandes infuriated 70,000 fans by turning attack into defence. Two months of Van de Beek’s loan spell at Everton were written off due to a thigh injury and when Paul Pogba twinged his hamstring in February 2021, Van de Beek also succumbed to injury. He was out for a month.
That was as badly-timed as Phil Leotardo’s heart attack in The Sopranos. Van de Beek could have had his turn in the “driver’s seat” yet his body wasn’t ready. Van de Beek’s card was perhaps marked by some the moment he sought the exit route of Everton last summer. Remarkably, Van de Beek will have to wait longer for a start under the coach who made him this season than he did when his scourge Solskjaer was manager. Almost as remarkable is the adoration United supporters shower Van de Beek with whenever he warms up before returning to the bench. It must be charitable or reputational. Radamel Falcao and Bastian Schweinsteiger were revered more ardently than players who actually won things with United. Edinson Cavani would pick and choose when he played, extending getaways in Montevideo, yet was still serenaded.
Leave a Reply