Coach Ten Hag's brilliant strategy that led to Man Utd vs Aston Villa win

After wins for Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham, the spotlight was on Aston Villa and Manchester United on Sunday. They faced each other at Villa Park in a key match for their objectives: Unai Emery's team had to win to regain their place in the qualification zone for the next Champions League, while Erik Ten Hag's squad had the opportunity to get closer to a direct rival in the standings.

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Moreover, it was a challenge for both teams. The hosts have performed excellently this season, exceeding the expectations of even the most optimistic fans, but it is always difficult to face one of Europe's top teams like Manchester United. And for the Red Devils, it was interesting to measure their strength against one of the most outstanding clubs of the season.

The result was a very interesting match, in which both teams used their weapons to try to get the three points. With that scenario, it was the visitors who were always closer to achieving their goal. In fact, they went into the break leading 1-0 thanks to a goal by Rasmus Hojlund, who received an assist from Harry Maguire inside the box and beat the resistance of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with a soft left-footed shot.

However, at the beginning of the second half Aston Villa improved, began to control the ball and create chances to score. André Onana saved the Red Devils on more than one occasion, but after 22 minutes he could do nothing to prevent Douglas Luiz's leveller. And moments later, the Brazilian player came close to completing the comeback, but Onana prevented it.

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The coach was right

When things were difficult for Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag made a change that was decisive for the future of the match: he took off Marcus Rashford and brought on Scott McTominay to play as a second centre-forward alongside Rasmus Hojlund. And that worked to perfection, as near the end Diogo Dalot sent a floated cross and the Scottish player scored the second goal with a beautiful header.