For some players there would be a temptation to hide after a chastening experience with their country but Wayne Rooney could not go missing if he tried. Torment had been etched across his face after England's defeat in Russia last week but this was an occasion when there was so much pleasure to be taken that he could even laugh after being nutmegged by Ashley Young in injury-time.
By that point United had secured a seventh consecutive league win and Rooney had come close to stealing the match ball as well as the show. His link-up play with Carlos Tevez did much to disprove the theory that the two strikers are not compatible, and his two goals took his tally to six in five matches and continued the pattern this year that has seen him go through barren patches before scoring almost at will.
There might easily have been more. Rooney had also clipped the crossbar with a whipped shot two minutes after seeing his penalty saved by the substitute goalkeeper, Stuart Taylor. It was a weak spot-kick but most of the spectators in the ground were still catching their breath at the interchange between Rooney and Tevez that culminated in Scott Carson bringing down the Argentinian and receiving the first red card of his career.
The signs are ominous for the rest of the Premier League. United managed eight goals in their first eight league matches but, after the 4-0 thrashing of Wigan and this mauling at
Zat Knight was equally culpable, with the former Fulham defender involved in the first three United goals. He ought to have intercepted the first when Nani slid a low ball across the face, which Rooney tapped in. Knight was caught ball- watching on the second as he allowed Rooney to peel off his shoulder and dispatch Tevez's pass, then he was outjumped by Gerard Piqué and Ferdinand forced the ball home despite Craig Gardner's efforts to keep it out.
"Anyone can have a mad 10 or 15 minutes," said Martin O'Neill, Villa's manager. "During the course of a season you try and iron it out, you try and cut out the straightforward, simple errors, but those were so simple it was untrue. The first goal has come across the six-yard box and we have three players in a line to clear the ball before the ball even gets to Rooney. No one moved. And within nine minutes we're 3-1 [down]."
The remainder of the match was a procession, with Ryan Giggs adding a fourth after he drifted across the Villa area before hammering a shot which deflected off Olof Mellberg and Martin Laursen.
The Torygraph
Give fans paper squares to hold up in mosaic-style banners, in this case on behalf of the Anti-Racism Campaign, and before long they will turn them into paper darts; put a world-class opponent in front of them and they will provide an unpleasant snapshot of modern-day football.
In the closing moments of Manchester United's breathtaking victory, Ashley Young showed an inspired shuffle to go past Wayne Rooney. Instead of applauding a wonderful piece of improvised skill, as Rooney did by throwing back his head and laughing out loud, those Villa fans still inside the ground made obscene hand gestures and mocking noises.
We should not be surprised, just alarmed: Rooney had been centrally involved in England's unhappy retreat from Moscow three days earlier, and he had just inflicted serious damage to Villa's disintegrating defence, turning a 1-0 deficit into a four-goal romp. Forty years ago, George Best would have been given a standing ovation.
Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, said: "Good players can all play together. People might think they are a bit similar because they want to come off [opponents], but once they come off, they can turn and cause you problems." As Rooney said, the pair can switch from pivotal striker to the man just behind in the hole when the mood takes them.
Villa found them impossible to handle. Rooney scored twice, his fifth and sixth goals in five games, missed a penalty and hit the crossbar; Tevez was denied by Scott Carson's legs, was brought down when going round Carson, for which the goalkeeper was sent off, and was then denied again, this time by the legs of Stuart Taylor, Carson's replacement.
Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs had the shots that were turned into their own net by Anthony Gardner and Martin Laursen as United maintained their chase of Arsenal at the top of the table. And that after Gabriel Agbonlahor had ended United's run of 611 minutes without conceding a goal, glancing home Young's cross.
Villa lost Nigel Reo-Coker and Carson within six minutes, both at 3-1. There was little disputing
By then, the paper darts had become paper balls, screwed up in frustration: it summed up Villa's inability to deal with world-class opponents.
The Indie
After a midweek in which they travelled almost 24,000 miles between them to play for their countries - 20,226 for Carlos Tevez to
Rooney scored twice, to bring his total to six in five games, including two for
Victory at
The key point there, as O'Neill well knows, is "once they come off you" and the error by his team to defend too deep, to sit off their opponents, proved their undoing. True, they were pushed back by the invention and complexity of United's passing but if they had maintained the conviction and momentum of the opening 20 minutes it could have been different.
In that time United fell behind, through a header from the relentless, whippet-quick Gabriel Agbonlahor, the first goal they had conceded in more than 10 hours of football, and appeared disjointed. Ferdinand, in particular, was at fault, clearly missing the injured Nemanja Vidic who, crucially, may not be fit enough for
But it was another central defender, Villa's Zat Knight, whose wretched contribution swung matters. After Scott Carson had blocked from Tevez, following a sumptuous one-touch move, Knight stood day-dreamingly rooted as Rooney swept in Nani's low cross. Then Tevez cut in from the left and flicked a pass to Rooney who was afforded a breathtaking degree of space by Knight to stroke United ahead. In first-half injury-time, Knight added insult when - all 6ft 6in of him - he watched as Gerard Pique thudded in a header. Ashley Young scrambled it off the line, but Ferdinand hooked the ball goalwards and Craig Gardner's attempted clearance cannoned in off the bar.
But the game was already up. It certainly was when