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Aston Villa 0-1 Man Utd
by Simon Williams
at Villa Park
MANCHESTER UNITED must look to strengthen their attacking options if they are to mount a serious title challenge this season.
Despite a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa thanks to a first-half goal from Adnan Januzaj, United created just two shots on target in 90 minutes.
And in their opening game of the season against Spurs at Old Trafford, they had to rely on an own goal from defender Kyle Walker to secure the points having only created a single effort on target.
Speaking after Friday night’s game at Villa Park, United manager Louis van Gaal agreed that his side need to be more ruthless in their attack.
“When you score more than your opponent then it’s enough,” said the Dutchman.
“But I think you are right because we had too many unnecessary ball losses and we have to improve that.
“But despite all of these ball losses we had more chances than the opponent and we scored the goal, a fantastic goal after a fantastic pass from Juan Mata and also fantastic cut from Adnan.”
However, if reports in weekend papers are to be believed the Reds are to launch another raid on Bayern Munich for Thomas Muller.
United are believed to have already made two bids for the striker — both of which have been rejected by the German champions.
But the Daily Express have reported that Muller is keen to link up with his former Die Bayern teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger in Manchester.
It was similarly frustrating for Aston Villa who themselves only managed to register a single shot on target during the game.
But manager Tim Sherwood refused to be downbeat following the defeat, believing United’s goal was “a little bit flukey.”
He said: “I thought the boys gave everything for the cause but we didn’t carry enough of an attacking threat unfortunately.
“I think we will be OK and all right. I am not too disheartened.
“I don’t take winning on Saturday out of proportion and I don’t think losing tonight to United with a couple of World Cup winners is going to destroy my confidence either.”
