‘Honestly, I couldn’t believe’ – Man Utd legend stuns Aston Villa with controversial opinion

Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson picked out Aston Villa for some controversial praise on live television after his beloved Red Devils beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday evening.

The iconic manager was there to witness his side grind out a result despite a poor performance while Wolves, under the new management of Gary O’Neil, impressed at Old Trafford.

Plenty of the post-match talk was about just how Wanderers played and whether they should have had a penalty when Sasa Kalajdzic and Craig Dawson were clattered into by goalkeeper Andre Onana.

But some distracting discussion has since come from the comments of Sir Alex as he gave a surprise answer when asked which team had impressed him most on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

“I watched Aston Villa and Newcastle and honestly, I couldn’t believe the scoreline. Aston Villa played some absolutely fantastic football, they just lost from some bad goals,” the 80-year-old told CBS Sports.

“Newcastle are very difficult to be at their own ground but it was a surprising game. You can play both teams off the pitch but not score and that’s what happened to Aston Villa,” Ferguson continued.

It was an afternoon of the Magpies being incredibly clinical with 17 shots, 13 on target and five goals, but Ferguson believes Villa played well and were unfortunate to lose by a wide margin.

The Scotsman’s comments don’t particularly mirror the mood amongst the claret and blue fanbase after such a heavy defeat, but they can bring about a positive out of an afternoon of negatives.

Villa have the opportunity to prove Ferguson right on Sunday as they take on Everton on home soil. Unai Emery’s side will be eager to get a first win on the board in front of the Villa Park faithful.