25 min United’s kit looks like it was sold in River Island, c.1997.

23 min United counter and Fernandes wins a free-kick, hit long towards Maguire on the far side of the box. His header hits Rogers’ arm, but it was too close to the ball to yield the kind of ludicrous penalty handed over in the 2023 FA Cup final.

22 min Kobbie Mainoo is a fantastic talent, but he needs to improve – and United need to improve – at getting him on the ball. I’m not sure he’s touched it yet.

20 min Philogene wanders in off the left and, with no one closing down, waves a right foot at a wobble-ball that flies a yard or two wide of the far post.

19 min “Like other non-Utd football fans, I’m enjoying Manchester United’s current run of hopelessness and misery” says Yash Gupta. |But I can’t get my head around why they refused to hire Pochettino? Even at Chelsea Pochettino showed he can sort mess out.

From the outside it looks like Man Utd need a coach who can play exciting football which maximises talent available at their disposal and also promotes academy talent. And United generally give their managers enough time which was one accusation thrown at Poch that his project usually took time initially.

Anyway Pochettino is now off to USMNT. So let’s bring in Southgate for more fun.”

I guess they didn’t employ Pochettino because he’d (arguably) proven himself just a bit less good than the managers he’d have to catch, and we’re now a few years away from the best of him.

17 min Excellent from Dalot, who spins away from goal then slides a decent reverse-pass into the inside-left channel for Hojlund, who times his run well. But a heavy touch allows Diego Carlos to intercede, and this has the look of a classic game between a good side and a side with good players: close until it isn’t.

15 min United win a free-kick 40 yards from goal, send the big men forward … and Eriksen passes square to predictable avail.

14 min Maguire wins a decent challenge and passes into misfield, Hojlund laying off for Fernandes, who sticks one in behind for Garnacho. He looks offside but the flag stay down even when the ball goes into touch – but Villa soon win it back.

13 min “Rogers missed the shot but he just exposed the slow ponderous Evans and Maguire in a single play,” reckons Mary Waltz. “Oh dear, poor, sad lads.”

My personal bugbear with that chance is how easily Villa passed through the lines, but we’ve no need to choose.

12 min Diego Carlos replaces Konsa.

10 min Konsa is down following a challenge from Hojlund and that’s bad news for Villa, who already have injury issues at the back. As soon as he went down, he was holding his hammy and beating the ground, so he’ll soon depart.

9 min “I agree that there doesn’t seem to be a clear style of play under Ten Hag,” writes Karen Asad. “That’s why the excuse of ‘not being integrated’ for dropping Ugarte doesn’t really wash; you want to tell me the rest of the team is completely integrated? That and the fact he’s presided over a lot of questionable transfers don’t exactly scream keep confidence.”

In general, Ten Hag is quite circumspect with new players, young players and those returning form injury, but I’m amazed by how little Ugarte has played given the circumstances.

8 min Again Konsa easily passes into Rogers, who finds Watkins, accepts a return, and shifts the ball away from Evans, creating a shooting lane before whamming into the near-post side-netting. Behind the goal, plenty think it’s in, but Onana had it covered – theoretically speaking, at least.

6 min There’s a calm, focused intensity about Villa – they believe in what they’re doing. their confidence and composure on the ball giving different vibes to United’s wilder, more desperate passing.

5 min Rashford robs Cash and immediately has his collar felt sets off from halfway, kinking inside Barkley – had he fallen over the leg extended into his path, he might’ve earned a penalty – before thrashing a shot that Martinez beats away. He’s looking better on the ball these last few games – but the problem during them has been his work out of possession.

4 min Digne picks out Dalot, who heads clear and Villa start again.

3 min It’s been a slow start, but then Konsa feeds a nice pass into Rogers, so Eriksen trips him and is booked. Free-kick Villa, 30 yards out and well right of centre.

2 min United look to be pressing high before sitting in a mid-to-low block. I have no knowledge of what Ten hag’s instructions are, but I’d be certain the game-model demanded of him stipulates a high defensive line.

1 min By the way, is the Holte the best end in English football? My contention is that it is.

1 min Away we go!

Our teams are tunnelled …and here they come!

“Just on De Ligt,” says Matthew Lysaght, “I’d say there’s a reason as to why both Juventus and Bayern Munich have been happy to sell the guy after a couple of seasons, particularly as they are both clubs who tend to operate at the business end of their respective Leagues. Although Bayern have a habit of foisting their unwanted players onto Utd, and Utd have a habit of gladly taking them.”

They do, though it’s fair to say De Ligt did pretty well for both those clubs and that circumstances are also important. The problem at United is there was no call for a centre-back of his characteristics.

“There needs to be some perspective here I feel,” writes Rick Harris. “United have had one day fewer recovery and travelled to and from Portugal so Villa have to be massive favourites given their excellent start to the season, their home advantage and their easier calendar.

Why is the Guardian trying so hard to get Ten Hag sacked? You did it with Solksjaer and here we go again. Arsenal kept faith with Arteta and are now reaping the rewards, so United should give Ten Hag until the end of the season and review the situation then.”

I don’t think Villa are relevant here because we’re not evaluating Ten Hag on the basis of a match we’ve not seen yet, rather than after more than two years, his team are still a mess with no firm identity. Even when Arteta was losing, the plan was clear – this is not so of Ten Hag – and as a team of writers, all we can do is say what we see: that his team are inexcusably appalling.

We should also note that we’ve not yet mentioned Manuel Ugarte.If reports are to be believed, he was not the manager’s choice, which perhaps explains why he’s been offered so few minutes – though his performances so far haven’t demanded them. Thing is, United desperately need someone in his position, and Villa will be excited to explore the space in between the midfield and defensive lines.

We should, though, say in Dalot’s defence that he’s playing out of position and behind a midfield without the legs to protect him.

Email! “Could I put forward Dalot as a bigger issue with the United defence?” beseeches David Flynn. “I can think of at least five goals this season where he has been absent at the back post. Again against Spurs for the first last weekend and all three midweek goals came from or where scored on his side. I don’t know whether he’s been told to remain high up but it’s exposing the nearest centre-back, which destabilises the middle in turn.”

I agree he’s had some terrible moments this season, the failure to track back for the Johnson goal particularly egregious. I also agree that when he inverts, he can leave a space down the wing , but I can’t excuse De Ligt’s charging about, nor his ability to allow strikers to run off him. Happily, there’s lots of blame to go around and no need to be sparing.

There is something fairly weird about a manager dropping two centre-backs he signed for big money for two he did not, one tried and found wanting at the top level, the other almost a decade past his best. Thing is, De Ligt was a strange signing by Ten Hag – and it’s strange the board sanctioned it – given his rashness and lack of pace are exactly the things Martínez’s ideal partner needs to temper. It’s no surprise their partnership has been disastrous – though of course it’s also fair to say the former needs time to settle in a new league.

United, meanwhile, presumably plan for their three midfield technicians to keep the ball away from Villa and look for early long passes out to the wide men. They’ll also have to find a way of serving Højlund, who suffered in that aspect last season; Garnacho playing on his natural side might help with the crosses and cut-backs he needs, because he’s more than enough pace to go at Lucas Digne on the outside.

Where is the game? Villa will, of course, look to exploit United’s lack of pace at the back, while outmuscling and outrunning them in midfield – in fairness, my 11-year-old daughter’s team would fancy themselves to manage that. I’d also expect Bailey to target the hole left by Diogo Dalot when he inverts, while Jaden Philogene will back himself to have too much power for Noussair Mazraoui.

The problem United have – and have always had under Ten Hag – is a lack of control. Højlund’s hold-up play is unlikely to help them retain possession, while the wide players are focused on going for goal – likewise Bruno Fernandes behind them. This may or may not lead to the spamming of hopeful passes to no one…

Otherwise, United go with the wide players deployed to exploit Spurs’ high line last weekend. Perhaps their starting positions will be conducive to that tactic – Rashford in particular was too deep and too wide – and perhaps that won’t be the sum of the strategy as it it seemed to be then. But with Højlund preferred to Zirkzee, chances are United hope to target Villa in similar fashion, because all of their front three like space in behind.

As below, the big news for United is the omission of Martínez and De Ligt. The idea, though, that they’ve not been dropped, is hard to believe given how poorly both are playing – and a question that might be asked is whether the rashness of the latter is exacerbating the faults of the former. Either way, though, Ten Hag has swapped two young(ish) centre-backs with no pace for two older centre-backs with no pace, against a team with loads of it and, let’s be real, the selection smacks of a manager hoping to force a one-off result and hang in there, rather than build for the future as per his brief.

Ten Hag tells Sky that he’s rotating, hence the defensive changes, saying it’s nothing to do with external pressure. He believes his players are ready for the game, and everyone in the club is calm and composed; they just have to improve their process.

Villa will play as they always do, but will particularly miss the presence of Onana in midfield – especially given United’s weakness at defending set-pieces. Konsa, meanwhile, isn’t as suited to combating the physical threat of Rasmus Højlund as Diego Carlos, and i’d not be surprised to see United target him.

Erik ten Hag makes four changes: Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martínez, Casemiro and Amad are left out, with Jonny Evans, Harry Maguire, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho coming in.

Unai Emery makes three changes to the side that beat Bayern so memorably in midweek: Diego Carlos, Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey drop out, the latter two missing from the squad entirely due to injury; they’re replaced by Matty Cash, Ross Bailey and Leon Bailey, with Ezri Konsa moving from right-back to centre-back.

Let’s have some teams…

Preamble