Alan Smith Delivers Immediate Man Utd Verdict After Aston Villa’s Early Lead

Things appeared to be going from bad to worse for Manchester United as their season took another drastic turn in the early stages of their Super Sunday match with Aston Villa.

Having won for the first time in nine attempts in midweek, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Roma in the UEFA Champions League, the domestic form continued on its downward trajectory.

Starting the match just one place off the bottom of the Premier League table, as a consequence of results elsewhere, United were stunned by Unai Emery’s men early on at Old Trafford.

Alysson opened the scoring inside two minutes, to silence the home crowd, before in-form Nicolas Jackson punished a poor Senne Lammens parry to make it 2-0 inside four minutes.

It was an incredible start for the visitors and an incredibly poor one for United, who have only won once in the Premier League all season.

The pressure is massively on Michael Carrick’s shoulders, with GIVEMESPORT understanding that the board of directors were willing to give him the Roma game and the match with Villa before discussing his immediate future in the international break.

A Bruno Fernandes penalty, much like in midweek, gave United hope to reduce the arrears before Youri Tielemans, against his old club, levelled things before the second half against Villa, with Carrick in desperate need of another extraordinary turnaround, perhaps to save his job.

Smith did not hold back on his relfection on Manchester United

Peter Cziborra via Reuters

Sky Sports co-commentator Alan Smith delivered his immediate verdict on the situation when Villa went 2-0 up.

He said: “You can’t quite believe, as poor as United have been over the last months, you can’t quite believe what you’re seeing out here. I know it’s been bad, but not this bad. Fans are shell shocked the atmosphere will be toxic, poisonous.”

The man in the opposing dugout, Unai Emery, is one of the names being linked with the job, should Carrick bite the bullet in the coming days, with Man Utd’s preferred candidate to replace him already named. However, the Spaniard looks set to sign an extended deal to remain at Villa Park.

In a tweet earlier this week, Villa wrote: “Aston Villa held an important working meeting today to plan the club’s future and lay the foundations for its long-term sporting and institutional project.

“The meeting brought together Nassef Sawiris, the club’s chairman and Unai Emery alongside President of Football Operations Roberto Olabe and Director of Football Operations Damián Vidagany.

“The discussions focused on jointly planning the club’s long-term strategic direction, with positive discussions establishing a clear commitment beyond 2029 for the joint development of the club under the sporting leadership of Unai Emery based on the shared ambitions and common goal to reach excellency and keep growing during the next years.

“The objective is clear: to build an ambitious, competitive Aston Villa capable of taking on the biggest challenges and achievements.”

Useful Links