Sheffield United 0 Aston Villa 5: Smiles wiped off Blades faces after gutless capitulation

Laughing at your rivals’ woes is always fair game in football, but the problem was, Sheffield United were still to play.

And when they did, they lost 5-0.

Even in a post-Christmas wobble, Aston Villa are a far superior side to the managerless Terriers, but it was how easy things were made for them that had the home players booed off at half-time, and again at full time. Annie’s Song was played so quietly as to almost be apologetic.

A lot of those who made their feelings known at the break did not come back for the second half, where the empty seats told their own story. The transfer window has made little difference, this United are damned for relegation.

Four goals in 18 first-half minutes represented the first capitulation of Chris Wilder's second spell as manager. It was landslides like this which cost Paul Heckingbottom his job, and the Sheffielder was brought in to address.

After that, Villa could have played the second half eating sandwiches had they wanted to.

They ought to have added to their five goals

Villa had a couple of chances, through John McGinn and Leon Bailey – Ben Brereton Diaz had almost squeezed a shot through Emiliano Martinez at the other end – by the time they took the lead on 12 minutes.

Lining up in a back five, debutant Mason Holgate was attracted a ball far too far away for him to get to it, and Ollie Watkins ran in behind him.

Wes Foderingham came off his line and got enough on the shot to touch it onto a post, but with Anel Ahmedhodzic sliding to try and keep the ball out, there was no one to stop McGinn tapping in the rebound.

The first three goals came from direct, speedy counter-attacking – not brainless hit-and-hope lumps, but measured passes. Douglas Luiz played one with the outside of his boot to set Watkins free in the 16th minute.

The striker ignored sliding in at his heels and calmly slotted the ball home.

From a Villa perspective, it was a well-taken goal but how a team set up in a 5-4-1 left central midfielder Luiz so much space to play the pass was baffling. Once more, a Premier League side had been undone by a simple forward pass.

Bailey got in on the act in the 20th minute, Watkins feeding Bailey to curl a shot in.

Ezri Konsa, a talented centre-back playing as an overlapping full-back, drifted far too easily inside Auston Trusty to force a Foderingham save but there was nothing the hopelessly-exposed goalkeeper could do about the fourth.

Vinicius Souza headed off the line after Youri Tielemans peeled off into far too much space from a 29th-minute free-kick but the Blades were just not learning, the Belgian in just as much space from the corner. He smashed it in off the crossbar. To refuse an invitation as generous as that would have just been plain rude.

Watkins lobbed over shortly afterwards and Bailey continued to take on players at will.

Wilder made a half-time substitution and changed the shape again – he had already tweaked it to 5-3-2, now it was 5-2-2-1. But within 90 seconds of the restart his side had conceded again and two more subs were being readied.

With Ahmedhodzic caught upfield, Trusty's untrustworthy touch allowed Bailey to find Watkins and with the whole defence having had to shuffle over, it was Alex Moreno's turn to have the freedom of Bramall Lane. He used it to volley in.

When Jayden Bogle swung a boot at a 51st-minute shot – it went well wide – those who had not gone home cheered ironically. In the last 20 minutes they took to ole-ing every Blades pass, not that the sequences were usually that long.

They had to make their own fun because with substitutes pouring on, the football became a bit of a non-event.

Trusty did well to stop Konsa tapping in a sixth at the far post, and Foderingham saved when Moussa Diaby beat Ahmedhodzic too easily.

In fairness to the Bosnian centre-back, he made an excellent tackle when Tielemans found himself in a huge amount of space down the inside right channel and was one of those frustrated by Martinez at the other end either side of a Jack Robinson effort headed off the line and Holgate's.

Tom Davies showed fight as a 71st-minute substitute but he ought to have stood out for his mohican, not that.

Morgan Rogers might have had a debut goal after his deadline-day move from Middlesbrough, but ballooned Diaby's pull-back.

Even video assistant referee Jarred Gillet seemed to have it in for the Blades, finding a micro-offside to slow handclaps after Souza stabbed in a free-kick to a stoney-faced reaction from Wilder.

"We'll meet again," taunted the Villa supporters. It was a real schadenfreude kind of a day but the smiles had long since been wiped off Unitedite faces.

Sheffield United: Foderingham; Bogle, Holgate, Ahmedhodzic, Trusty, Norrington-Davies (Robinson 50); McAtee (Davies 71), Souza, Brooks (Osborn 50), Brereton Diaz (Archer 64); Osula (Hamer HT).

Unused substitutes: Norwood, One, Laroucim Amissah.

Aston Villa: Martínez; Konsa (Cash 59), Diego Carlos, Lenglet, Moreno; Kamara, Luiz (J Ramsey, HT); Bailey (Diaby 59(, Tielemans (Rogers 80), McGinn (Iroegbunam 71); Watkins.

Unused substitutes: Chambers, Olsen, Kesler-Hayden, Wright.

Referee: P Tierney (Wigan).