Some 20 minutes after the final whistle, Philippe Coutinho was still on the pitch doing sprinting drills between cones. The Brazilian is short of full fitness but in his brief Aston Villa debut he produced an assist and goal to further expose the fragility at Manchester United.

United must dread facing the player who scored for Barcelona in his last appearance against them, and enjoyed a good record against them for Liverpool. In 14 minutes, he showed why Steven Gerrard wanted to bring him back to the Premier League from Spain.

Villa had gifted two goals to Bruno Fernandes, his first went through Emiliano Martinez’s legs and the second after an error from Morgan Sanson. It looked like a straightforward result until Coutinho was introduced as a last throw of the dice.

“I missed these games and the Premier League,” said Coutinho. “It was a good start, we kept believing until the end, but we didn’t lose. There have been many ups and downs since being away. It is in the past, I’m here and I’m focused on the objectives of the club.”

Cristiano Ronaldo spoke out during the week over the deep-rooted problems within the team, which surfaced again as they let this lead slip. Ronaldo repeated his manager’s call for professionalism, something the pair surely did not think would be lacking this season when they arrived.

For those wanting sweeping changes at United, this match saw Ronaldo missing with a hip problem, Harry Maguire as an unused substitute and Jadon Sancho on the bench for most of the match. Marcus Rashford was also injured, although it can be argued he does not warrant a place on form.

“Broken and rotten from top to bottom,” read a banner in the United end before kick-off, echoing the problems highlighted by Ronaldo. Within six minutes, however, those fans were dancing in delight and setting off a flare after Fernandes’ goal.

With his Portugal team-mate absent, Bruno took centre stage in place of United’s superstar. When Alex Telles rolled a free-kick to him 30 yards from goal on the left flank, most expected Bruno to cross, including Martinez.

Instead, Bruno tried his luck with a dipping drive straight at the Villa keeper but wobbling in the air. With Edinson Cavani distracting him, Martinez let the shot slip though his hands and between his legs. He attempted to argue that Telles had not touched the ball, but was clutching at straws.

After such a poor start, Villa were gaining momentum and growing in confidence. Lucas Digne, also on his debut, was making an impact as an attacker and forced a save from David De Gea with a volley after a sweeping move.

United’s goalkeeper was also kept busy after the break when he denied Jacob Ramsey, with Villa perhaps inspired by the number of chances they created in defeat last week in the FA Cup at Old Trafford.

But their hopes seemed to end when Fernandes added his second goal. Again, it was self-inflicted from Villa, who gift-wrapped the goal from Sanson’s stray pass. Fred latched onto the error and sent through Fernandes, whose finish went in off the bar.

Sanson booted a plastic tray of bottles in frustration as he was immediately subbed. But the change brought on Coutinho for his debut and he helped set up Ramsey’s goal, exchanging passes on the edge of the area with the young midfielder who stroked into the top corner.

The pair combined again for the equaliser, Ramsey sending in a low cross that evaded De Gea and found Coutinho at the far post to tap in.

“In those 15 minutes we conceded two goals in four minutes and they were both similar,” said Rangnick. “It is difficult to speak of the positives but we had a few.

“I don’t think we were panicking but we were not as compact as we were in other parts of the game and the two goals we conceded were too easy for them to dribble through our lines. This is what we did well in other parts of the game but didn’t do it well in the last 15 minutes.”

On Sanson kicking out in anger, Gerrard added: “I asked whether it was frustration at the mistake or at me for making the sub. It was over the error and I’m okay with that, we can all make mistakes. I would have had an issue if it was on the back of the decision as you have to respect the person coming on.”