Manchester United battled hard and secured a point against an in-form Aston Villa with their Premier League encounter at Villa Park ending goalless on Sunday.
The result meant the Red Devils fell down to 14th in the table with only eight points from seven games, their lowest points tally at this stage of the competition in 35 years.
It was a game of attrition with both sides struggling going forward. The hosts were clearly feeling the effects of playing three games in a week, something they are not used to.
As for the visitors, they had a few decent chances to sneak in a win with Marcus Rashford’s second half effort striking the bar after a fingertip save from Emi Martinez in goal.
Pragmatic approach helped
Bruno Fernandes also struck the crossbar from a superb free-kick but apart from these two long-range efforts, the Old Trafford side hardly created anything of note.
There were lots of question marks surrounding Erik ten Hag’s future heading into the game with plenty of outlets billing this encounter as a do-or-die contest for the Dutchman. A loss could have meant he would be without a job.
And as was seen last season as well, when the chips are down, the former Ajax coach usually goes into his shell and asks the players to play a more pragmatic game and that meant they were much more difficult to break down.
Instead of a single pivot system, which places way too much pressure on the deep-lying midfielder due to the open nature of the manager’s usual set-up, both Kobbie Mainoo and Christian Eriksen sat deep on Sunday, which gave far more protection to the backline.
The midfield duo worked hard but it was the addition of a new defensive pairing after a difficult midweek encounter against Porto that really helped the team.
Both Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez were rightly dropped and in came Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire and both looked far better than their more fancied compatriots.
Evans was superb
Maguire’s injury meant De Ligt did appear for the second half but with the commanding Evans beside him, United managed to hold on for a draw, and they became only the second team this season to stop Unai Emery’s team from netting.
It might be a concern that despite his advancing years, Evans still looks one of the squad’s most accomplished defenders at the moment.
Why Ten Hag does not stick to a similar style when it clearly suits his players is a mystery. United are clearly miles behind the other top teams and irrespective of the result, INEOS need to take a good, hard look at the situation.
The 20-time English league champions are 14th, and surely this is not sustainable. The ball remains in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new-look hierarchy’s court.
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