The big team news for Man United was that Wayne Rooney began the match on the bench with Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen starting. Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill had been using Brad Guzan in goal but he went with Brad Friedel in today for the final.
The Man United starting XI was- Tomasz Kuszczak, Rafael da Silva, Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park, Michael Owen and Berbatov.
Villa had an early lead after Vidic brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor in the penalty area, James Milner stepped up and coolly stuck it past Kuszczak. One of the big talking points to come out of the game was that Vidic was not shown a yellow or red card. I was expecting him to be shown a card and with only four minutes gone, it could have impacted on the result of the game.Villa had started off as the better team but United settled down and came back into the game. Villa only had the lead for 8 minutes, Berbatov took the ball off Richard Dunne, he challenged Berbatov in the penalty area but the ball fell to Owen who stuck it past Friedel.
Park came so close to putting United ahead when he received the ball from Berbatov but his strike hit the post. Just before halftime United had to make a forced substitution with Rooney coming on to replace Owen, who minutes earlier had pulled up with a hamstring injury.
Villa may have started off the first half the better side but United started off the second half with a wonderful opportunity to take the lead. Berbatov had the ball on the edge of the Villa penalty area. Berbatov back-heeled the ball to Carrick whose strike was pushed away for a Man United corner by Friedel.
United again had to make a forced substitution, with just over an hour gone, Rafael da Silva went down with what looked like cramp. Minutes later Gary Neville was brought on to replace the youngster.
The winning goal courtesy of Rooney came in the 73rd minute with yet again, another headed goal. Man of the match Valencia’s cross into the area was met by Rooney’s head to not only put United ahead for the first time in the game but to score the winning goal of the final.
United really should have had a third moment later with another Rooney header, unfortunately for him and United, it hit the post. Villa had to throw everything at United, which weren’t good for the nerves but I wouldn’t say that they carved out any really good chances.
United went on to win the game 2-1, overall I believe we did deserve it. The main negative talking point to come out of the game was referee Phil Dowd’s performance. He had a horror of a match and there were some really mad mistakes, which went against both sides.
United have won the first piece of silverware of the season, I’m now hoping that this can now spur the team on and we can win at least one more.
