Manchester United and Aston Villa produced one of the games of the Premier League season at Old Trafford on Sunday, sharing eight goals in a draw that somehow left both managers more frustrated than relieved. Patrick Dorgu's header deep into stoppage time rescued a 4-4 draw for United after they had twice trailed by two goals, but the point was not enough to move Michael Carrick's side out of the bottom three, and Unai Emery's Villa were left to rue a lead they held twice and lost twice.
It took barely a minute for Villa to announce their intentions. John McGinn picked out Alysson inside the box and the full back finished calmly, before Nicolas Jackson, Villa's record signing from Chelsea in the summer, turned home the rebound from Alysson's blocked follow up to make it 2-0 with the game barely four minutes old. Old Trafford had scarcely settled into its seats.
United hauled themselves back into it through Bruno Fernandes, who sent Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 16th minute after Boubacar Kamara had fouled Matheus Cunha. Youri Tielemans levelled matters just before half time, turning in a Noussair Mazraoui cross to make it 2-2, and it felt, briefly, as though United had done the hard part.
Villa hit back twice, United find a way back twice
Whatever Emery said at the interval worked. Villa were back in front within three minutes of the restart, John McGinn converting his second penalty of the afternoon after Diogo Dalot was adjudged to have fouled Alysson, and they doubled their advantage soon after when Leon Goretzka reacted quickest to pounce on the loose ball after Leny Yoro's header had cannoned back off his own crossbar. At 4-2 with over half an hour still to play, a thumping defeat looked to be exactly what Carrick did not need.
Instead, United found something. Joshua Zirkzee pulled one back in second half stoppage time, and then came the moment that will define the afternoon. Deep into six added minutes, United won a corner, Senne Lammens came forward from his own goal to add his size to the attack, and Dorgu rose to head the equaliser past Suzuki. The goal was not without controversy. Villa's players surrounded the referee convinced that Lammens had impeded Suzuki in the build up, and the goal went to a VAR review before being allowed to stand. Villa's director of football operations, Damian Vidagany, later posted that referees had told clubs that pushing a goalkeeper inside the six yard box would no longer be permitted, adding only that "the rules are the rules and must be respected."
What happened next drew almost as much attention as the goal itself. Emery, believing the 96th minute strike had brought the contest to its conclusion, began walking down the Old Trafford tunnel before the game had actually finished, with around two minutes still to be played out. Asked about it afterwards, he insisted there had been no petulance behind it. "No emotion," he said. "They scored in minute 96, I thought that was the end, because we had six minutes to add." He was careful to add that he did not think the goal itself was unfair, saying simply, "No, no. Not unfair."
Carrick left to reflect on moments United keep giving away
For all the drama of the finish, Carrick's post-match mood was one of frustration rather than celebration. He felt his side had done enough across the ninety minutes, plus six added on, to have won the game outright rather than simply rescued a point. "We kind of beat ourselves a little bit with the moments really that we're giving away," he said, pointing to the carelessness that allowed Villa in twice from damaging positions. It is becoming a familiar theme under Carrick this season: United have now come from two goals behind on three separate occasions in the space of a week, including their Champions League win over Roma, a run that speaks to genuine spirit in the squad but also to a defence that keeps needing rescuing.
That matters because of where it leaves United in the table. Nottingham Forest's win over Manchester City on Saturday had already dropped Carrick's side into the bottom three, and Sunday's point, welcome as the comeback felt in the moment, keeps them there, just a single point above safety with the international break now arriving at an awkward time. Patrick Dorgu, the match winner in all but name, did not try to dress up how that feels from the inside. Speaking to Sky Sports, he admitted the club's current position "hurts" given how many games remain, and said every player in the squad needed to look honestly at whether they were doing enough, while making clear the group still had to fight for Carrick and for the club.
Villa, by contrast, could reasonably feel they let a big chance slip. A win would have lifted Emery's side provisionally into the top half of the table and offered further proof that life without Ollie Watkins, sold in the summer to help fund Jackson's club record arrival, has not cost them the firepower many predicted it would. Instead they must make do with a point, two dropped leads, and a manager who, by his own admission, was angry, though he was careful to direct that anger at the situation rather than at his players.
Both sides now have a fortnight to regroup before the Premier League resumes. For Villa, it is a chance to build on nine attacking performances that suggest the pieces are largely there. For United, the international break could scarcely have arrived at a worse moment, with a manager under growing scrutiny and a group of players who keep proving they can score three or four goals in an afternoon, but not yet that they can stop the other side doing the same.
If performances like this are becoming the norm rather than the exception at Old Trafford, It Was Always... Football will be covering every twist. Subscribe to keep up with the stories shaping this Premier League season.