Hope we don't miss our "VILLA HUNTER"

Federico Macheda was loaned out to Sampdoria to gain experience as you can see above

Manchester United are set to face Aston Villa this Tuesday, after the weekend FA Cup tie against the Saints, and with no Federico Macheda on the team sheet, Houllier’s men will breathe a sigh of relief. Kiko Macheda, who was bought by United from Lazio as a 16 year old has made 16 appearances for United from 2008-11; before returning back to his homeland Italy with the Serie A club Sampdoria on loan. In the 16 games he played, Macheda managed to score 4 times. Let’s rewind a bit and look at why Villa players are afraid of Macheda:

5 April 2009: United vs. Aston Villa

United had to suffer in defense with Rio injured and Vidic suspended. Gary Neville started with O’Shea in the heart of defense. The Villa players made full use of this mismatch and scored twice to take the lead by 58^th minute. United were in all sorts of trouble and ON came Macheda for Nani in the 61^st minute. United leveled the score, courtesy Ronaldo’s goal in the 80^th minute. In the 90^th minute, Macheda got a pass from the Giggs inside the penalty box and beating the defender, he turned a complete 180 degrees before curling the ball past a helpless Friedel. It was a happy moment for the Italian who had scored a hat-trick earlier against Newcastle in a reserve match just last week.

13 November 2010: Aston Villa vs. United

Aston Villa had won just 1 out of last 29 games against United. And this time, it was almost an Aston Villa youth team playing against United, with the likes of Albrighton, Bannan, Warnock etc. An exciting addition was Jonathan Hogg, for whom this was a debut match. After an entertaining first half, where Villa had the upper hand, United showed some signs of a comeback, only to see themselves going 2 goals down by the 75^th minute. ON came Macheda. The Italian took just 6 minutes to hammer a ball past Friedel to score the first goal for United. The rejuvenated team went all attack against Villa for the next few minutes and the result was a goal from Super-Vidic from a header.

Thus, this time around, Villa will be a bit more relaxed though I see Rooney giving them a hard time!!

I go for Rooney to score in this match and an easy United victory..!! 3-1 I'm guessing, c'mon! it's at home!!!

GGMU

Match 13 Review: A tired United manage to "make" a point (VIDEO)

For most of us United fans, it was an unfamiliar sight at the Villa Park to see an injury depleted Aston Villa dominate most of the match. True, United have had slip-ups this season and have played unlike the Manchester United of the past, but a team was yet to take a 2 goal lead against them prior to this match.

Sir Alex’s men were playing their third match within six days and with most of the players down with the flu they brought back from Turkey, he had to play with almost the same squad that faced Manchester City midweek in a goalless draw. Scholes, who was suspended, was replaced by Hernandez and Rafael who got injured(dead leg) battling against Tevez and Silva was replaced by Brown. All in all, a tired United XI faced an injury hit Aston Villa XI.