Ten Hag fails to inspire as Utd limp to Villa draw
Manchester United ground out a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday in a game steeped in speculation about the future of the visitors’ under-fire manager Erik ten Hag amid the team’s worst start in the Premier League era.
The draw sends Unai Emery’s men into the international break fifth in the table on 14 points after seven games, while United are languishing in 14th with eight points and still searching for their third win of the season.
Their points tally is United’s lowest in their opening seven matches of a Premier League campaign and their lowest in any league season since 1989-90 (seven points), when they went on to finish 13th under Alex Ferguson — his lowest league finish as manager.
“It wasn’t perfect, we didn’t probably pass the ball as well as we would have liked to, but we got a point against a good side away from home,” United defender Jonny Evans told Sky Sports.
United captain Bruno Fernandes had the best chance of the game for either team, clanging a free kick off the crossbar from outside the box in the 68th minute. Antony then missed the target with the rebound and with keeper Emi Martínez out of his goal.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Villa’s Jaden Philogene had a spectacular effort at a goal in stoppage time after Matthijs de Ligt missed Morgan Rogers‘ drilled ball across the goal. Philogene’s shot looked to be heading for the net before Diogo Dalot turned to block it with his back. Emery buried his head in his hands in frustration.
United’s woeful start to the season has put Ten Hag back in the spotlight and the team’s entire senior leadership — co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, and technical director Jason Wilcox — were in attendance at Villa Park for what many believed was a pivotal game for the manager.
The afternoon was a tale of teams headed in different directions, with United off to an historically bad start, and Villa enjoying their best beginning to a campaign since 2008-09 and coming off a 1-0 Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
United played with considerably more confidence and togetherness than their previous two matches — a woeful 3-0 league loss to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend followed by a 3-3 Europa League draw with FC Porto on Thursday that saw them give up a two-goal lead.
United’s Marcus Rashford had a couple of near misses, with Villa keeper Martinez, who was forced into a diving save in the game’s early minutes, leaping to push a shot over the bar soon after halftime.
Rogers blazed a shot just wide of United’s net in the first-half.
Villa defender Ezri Konsa limped to the bench in the 12th minute after going down clutching his hamstring — a blow for both Villa and England, ahead of their upcoming Nations League games against Greece and Finland.
United also lost defender Harry Maguire, who limped off the pitch at the end of the first-half.
