A home draw against Manchester United is hardly a poor result, but Aston Villa would be quite right to think of Wednesday’s 1-1 stalemate as two points dropped rather than a point gained.

After taking the lead through Carlos Cuellar’s looping header, the hosts seemed poised to go on and do an unlikely double over the champions, and throw down the gauntlet ahead of the Carling Cup final in the process.

Astoundingly, however, it was Nani’s sending-off that seemed to paralyze Villa. Once handed the man advantage, they appeared at a loss for attacking ideas while dominating possession for long stretches. As United withdrew from the attacking third and set up shop in the centre of the park, Villa’s counter-attacking game was taken away from them.

They barely troubled Edwin Van der Sar after that, a fact that will no doubt have Martin O’Neill losing sleep ahead of the Wembley final between the same sides on February 28.

“I thought we could maybe take advantage, but we were a bit tired in the second half and we didn’t create enough to cause them undue worry,” admitted the Villa boss in his post-match comments. “But they haven’t been gallivanting around Europe winning Champions Leagues and titles without being a top side.”

Still, Villa’s inability to dictate play and convert spells of possession into goals is a major concern. And O’Neill’s admission that his side was “tired” in the second half only reinforces the reality that Villa are a counter-attacking side, and nothing more.

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