Quite what this draw does for Erik ten Hag is unknown but it may just spare him the indignity of what seemed an inevitability had Manchester United slumped to a damaging defeat at Aston Villa. Maybe. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, United’s top brass, had the best seats in the house and will surely review Ten Hag’s position over the international break. Bruno Fernandes cracked the crossbar with a fine free-kick and United’s performance was hardly disgraceful but their last win came against Barnsley and it is five games without victory in all competitions.
United are 14th after taking eight points from their first seven matches, their worst start to a Premier League season and their lowest tally at this stage since 1989-90, when they staggered to a mid-table finish under Sir Alex Ferguson, also in the stands here. Ten Hag took comfort in the positives, Fernandes’s free-kick from 20 yards, a fourth league clean sheet, the reward for an organised display, the resilience and an unlikely player-of-the-match performance from Jonny Evans, a bizarre beacon of hope in the twilight of his career. But, really, who is he kidding?
