Two days after Michael Carrick told reporters that Patrick Dorgu had done only "a little bit of training, very small," and that "we have to be patient with Pat," the Danish wing-back came off the bench to set up one stoppage-time goal and score the other as Manchester United came back from 4-2 down to draw 4-4 with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday. The point keeps United in the relegation zone going into the international break, but it changes the question hanging over Carrick from whether his team had quit to whether his substitutions just bought him two more weeks.

Two goals down twice, and a third comeback in a week

Villa scored twice in the first four minutes. Alysson squeezed a shot through Senne Lammens' legs inside 90 seconds after John McGinn's pass, and Nicolas Jackson tapped in Lammens' parry of another Alysson effort to make it 2-0. Bruno Fernandes pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 16th minute and Youri Tielemans, against his former club, leveled in the 44th from Noussair Mazraoui's cross.

The second half started the same way. Diogo Dalot fouled Alysson, McGinn converted the penalty in the 48th minute, and Leon Goretzka finished from close range off Jackson's assist in the 53rd. By the BBC's count, it was the third time in a week United had been two goals down, after Tuesday's 3-2 Champions League comeback against Roma.

What the 66th-minute changes did

Carrick had already replaced Harry Maguire with Ayden Heaven at halftime. In the 66th minute he made a triple change: Dorgu on for Dalot, Mason Mount for Tielemans and Shea Lacey for Amad Diallo. Joshua Zirkzee came on for Bryan Mbeumo in the 83rd.

All three of the late attacking moments came from that bench. Mount hit the woodwork in the 89th minute. Two minutes into the six added on, Dorgu squared from the left and Zirkzee stabbed it in with his left foot to make it 4-3. Then Lacey's delivery in the final minute was flicked on behind for a corner, Fernandes swung it in, Zion Suzuki missed it, and Dorgu headed in from close range in the 96th minute. A VAR check followed, and the goal stood. Suzuki was booked in the aftermath, and the BBC reported that Unai Emery stormed off.

The numbers back up how one-sided the closing stretch became. United finished with 26 shots to Villa's 12, nine on target to six, 44 touches in the Villa box to 17 and eight corners to one, according to BBC match stats. United's open-play expected goals were 2.36; Villa's were just 0.38, with 1.71 of their 2.88 coming from set plays and most of the rest from their two penalties.

The defending is still the problem

None of that excuses the start. Former United captain Roy Keane said on Sky Sports that Villa "brought it on themselves" by sitting "deeper and deeper," and Ashley Young said the players "look like they don't know each other at times." Andy Reid told BBC Radio 5 Live that "the level of inconsistency in Manchester United's play is incredible," while praising the team for being resilient.

United have now conceded 19 goals in 10 league games, and their only Premier League win this season came in August. They sit 18th with eight points, level with Sunderland and one behind Nottingham Forest and Coventry, after dropping into the bottom three when Forest beat Manchester City on Saturday.

Why Villa's lead mattered beyond the table

Villa were minutes away from what the BBC described as only their fifth league win at Old Trafford in their history. Instead they leave 10th with 13 points. The result also lands on a weekend when Emery's name has been linked with Carrick's job, days after Villa publicly announced positive talks about extending his contract beyond 2029.

Dorgu had been out since a hamstring injury on Denmark duty during the October break, and Carrick had sounded cautious about how much he could give. He gave 30 minutes, an assist and the equalizer. Whether that is enough for United's hierarchy to keep Carrick through the break is a decision that will be made off the pitch, but the evidence from Sunday is that his late calls changed the game untill the very last kick.