Here was a result and a performance that could scarcely have been more helpful for Dan Ashworth, Omar Berrada as they mull what to do next over their underfire manager. What was supposed to be the week from hell for Erik ten Hag has ended in two battling away draws that neither force the hand of the Manchester United hierarchy nor offer them the indisputable trigger point that compels them to make a change.
Did Manchester United organize themselves well as they held firm at Villa Park to claim a 0-0 draw? It did not particularly feel like that. The visitors were perfectly adequate off the ball. Victor Lindelof deserves credit for how swiftly he settled into his task after first-half issues for both Noussair Mazraoui and Harry Maguire, Matthijs De Light rather less so given his disastrous attempts to clear in added time. Such a mistake was inevitable given how often Ten Hag’s men always seemed to be on the back foot, at best waiting for an opening to counterpunch but more often just hoping that the knockout blow wouldn’t come.
It might have when a cross from the left rolled right the way through to Jaden Philogene, his powerful shot cannoning into Diogo Dalot. Given that United only seemed to consider keeping Ten Hag because he won the FA Cup back in May, it isn’t utterly unimaginable that one block might have an outsized influence on the decisions United make over the international break. If so, that would be an almighty mistake.
United won’t head up the M6 a point better off because of anything they particularly got right but because Villa were emotionally and physically spent by their triumph over Bayern Munich. Better performances from the unusually subdued Ollie Watkins or Morgan Rogers, this wouldn’t have been a contest. Unai Emery’s men were not exactly there for the taking but it speaks volumes about both United’s decline and the rise of the Midlands side that a point for the former is viewed as something of a success.
Going forward, United seemed to have no idea how to prise Villa apart in settled play. Alejandro Garnacho may well find himself criticized for his failure to hit the final pass when his side broke away but these are some of the hardest attacks to execute, they can’t be the staple of your offense.
Bruno Fernandes has always been a player prepared to gamble with possession in pursuit of openings. Before this season the Portuguese international more than justified his gambling spirit with consistent results. Even this year, there’s no obvious sign of decline in terms of non-penalty expected goals and expected assists. Fernandes, however, cuts an ever more frustrated figure, that familiar sense of indignance only heightened by his recent spate of red cards. His curling free kick was the closest United got all game, that or perhaps an ambitious long-range smack from Marcus Rashford that Emiliano Martinez tipped onto the crossbar.
Rashford in particular seems to be a player defined by moments. This time, they may have been glorious but he was fortunate in the extreme that a petulant swing at Leon Bailey after the Villa winger had gotten away from him. That was more of a serious impact than Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee had, not a shot between the two center forwards in 90 minutes.
They, Garnacho, the impressive Kobbie Mainoo: these may be the cornerstones of the “project’ Ten Hag referenced once more after Sunday’s game. The diagnosis that United are going to need time might be right. Would you trust Ten Hag to provide the medicine? Even with another point to their name, this remains the worst start to a Premier League campaign by Manchester United after seven games. The underlying metrics might not be as egregious as the end of last season but not having one of the worst defenses in Europe’s top-five leagues is hardly cause for chanting at the Stretford End.
Then there is the bigger picture. Through two seasons and seven games, the 20-time champions of England have a goal difference of +11 having scored as many goals as Fulham, fewer than Brentford. Never mind Manchester City and Liverpool, if a leggy, underwhelming Aston Villa with whom they should be battling for top four can hold them to 0.11 xG from open play, what case can be made that Ten Hag is looking like improving the scoring issues that have dogged him throughout his tenure? An awful lot of money was spent compiling the substitutes bench for Ten Hag, plenty more will be needed to unstitch a squad that looks a long way from United’s supposed mission of a title in 2028.
This dreary goalless draw might not have been the rupture point that would have made change in the Old Trafford dugout inevitable but it offered no compelling case for proceeding with a formula that evidently isn’t working. Instead offering next to nothing to test Villa, who evidently had already played their most important game of the week, only shows how far off the minimum standards United currently are.
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