In a season of shuddering setbacks and personal humiliations, this will have felt like a little like a win for Erik ten Hag.
A win as much as it wasn’t another defeat. A win in so much as it wasn’t another afternoon that left his head spinning and his employment prospects tossed once more on to the autumn breeze. A win in so much as it looked as though his Manchester United players were maybe still playing for him, just.
The United manager got a bit lucky. He was lucky that this was not the Aston Villa we have come to know here this season. This was Villa-lite, down on energy and adrenaline after their disposal of Bayern Munich in the Champions League last Wednesday.
He was also lucky that Marcus Rashfordwas not sent off for a selfish and stupid hack at an opponent with 25 minutes left. Rashford had already been booked and should have walked.
And, finally, he was lucky that a 93rd minute shot by Villa’s Jaden Philogene did not find the net. United defender Diogo Dalot blocked it but replays showed the Portuguese had simply turned his back on the shot and it struck him and flew wide.
Manchester United took a point away from Aston Villa as a goalless draw gave Erik ten Hag some much needed breathing space
Neither side could break the deadlock as spoils were shared in a goalless draw
United boss Ten Hag decided to take off Marcus Rashford with the winger already on a yellow card
United goalkeeper Andre Onana denied Villa on several occasions as his defence held firm
So, yes, Ten Hag rode it a bit here this afternoon and – with United’s minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe sitting in the stand – it’s true that some of the big statistics still stand against him. Fourteenth in the Premier League. Two wins from seven. Five league goals, the second worst in the top flight. None of this is good.
But the truth is that nobody gets an easy ride at Villa Park these days. Both Arsenal and Manchester City lost here last season. Arsenal had a mighty battle to prevail against Unai Emery’s team last month. Bayern went home beaten and bowed.
And it is this that Ten Hag must cling to as he heads into an international break. His team were always in this game. Rashford was twice close and Bruno Fernandes hit the bar. It was a poor game but the United manager won’t care.
This was an afternoon that had personal and professional survival as its central theme. In that regard, his team may have just about have shown enough fight to enable him to limp towards Tuesday’s scheduled board meeting and beyond.
Ten Hag’s team selection had a bit of a last chance look about it. Herry Maguire and Jonny Evans were reunited at the heart of the defence while Christian Eriksen occupied one of three central midfield positions. As such there was an awful lot of expensive summer talent left on the bench.
Ten Hag has done this kind of thing before, though. The United coach often looks uncomfortable under scrutiny but he doesn’t often bend to popular opinion or public whim. So, just as he did when removing Rashford when he was playing well at Porto on Thursday, he made a bunch of his own single-minded decisions here.
He was also helped that Villa were not at full strength. Amadou Onana – so impressive in midfield since arriving from Everton in the summer – did not play because of injury. Nor did John McGinn while central defender Ezri Konas went off with what looked like a hamstring injury early in the game. There was still, it should be noted, no place for Villa super sub Jhon Duran, who had to wait until the 62mind minute to get on.
So if some of that seemed to point towards something less than the kind of high adrenaline afternoons that you tend to get at Villa Park these days then that was pretty much as I turned out.
United stakeholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe (pictured) watched on at Villa Park
United – watched by a host of key figures from Old Trafford – were not at all terrible. And if that sounds like a strange thing to say then maybe it’s merely indicative of recent low standards.
Ten Hag’s team were organised enough and played to a decent shape, with Rashford and Alejandro Garnarcho providing pace on the counter to a formation that had Rasmus Hojland ahead of Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo in the centre.
The visiting team actually fashioned the first chance. Rashford robbed Matty Cash in the third minute and broke down the left before cutting in to work Emiliano Martinez with a right foot curler. It transpired to be United’s best chance of the first half. There was a weak handball appeal after a Maguire header struck a Villa arm while Garnacho worked Martinez at the near post seven minutes before half-time.
It was quite simply a very scrappy game. Villa lacked their usual forward thrust and their set pieces were poor. The Villa Park crowd, meanwhile, seemed as though they were experiencing their own Bayern Munich comedown.
Villa didn’t work United goalkeeper Andre Onana properly at all in the first period. Morgan Rogers – impressive so far this season - worked space 18 yards out only to find the side netting. Philogene, meanwhile, cut in from the left midway through the half and drove a shot across goal that briefly excited the crowd but actually passed the wrong wide of the post by quite some distance.
In amongst all of that was some scrappy football, the odd bit of niggle and a smattering of yellow cards dished out for not very much, as often seems to be the case these days.
Villa boss Unai Emery watched as his players produced an unusually below-par outing
Jaden Philogene (middle) had a late goalscoring chance blocked by Diogo Dalot (left)
Ten Hag would not have been too distressed at half-time. He’s seen worse. That said, Maguire had to be helped from the field at the interval and could not return. Matthijs de Ligt replacing him. Ten Hag also withdraw right-back Noussair Mazraoui, sending on Victor Lindelof, and that decision appeared to be tactical.
United looked a little different, then, but started the second half the same way as they had the first, Rashford driving infield to work Martinez from the edge of the area. Then, at the other end, Cash did likewise only to slash his shot wide.
Soon after that, Youri Tielemans came a good bit closer. Villa worked a nice corner routine from the right which saw the ball rolled across the top of the penalty area in to the Belgian’s path. Tielemans’ shot was purely struck but maybe two feet too close to Onana who leaped high and left to palm it away with two hands. With almost an hour gone, that was comfortably Villa’s best moment and it prompted a spell of real pressure.
Ollie Watkins, hitherto quiet, drove a shot over from an angle and not long after a move down the right should have resulted in that red card for Rashford. Already booked, Rashford’s trip on Philogene was deliberate and lazy and the decision not to caution him again was extraordinary. A moment later Rashford was substituted and perhaps it was just as well.
With Duran now on for Villa and Joshua Zirkzee and Antony on for United, there was some freshness about the game from this point on. The Rashford decision seemed to stall Villa’s momentum a little and before long Anthony won a free-kick in front of the Holte End that Fernandes curled brilliantly against the bar.
Antony also made Martinez work soon after, the Villa goalkeeper leaping high to his right to clutch the Brazilian’s looping effort. Once again, the shot had come from distance, though. Had United – the league’s second lowest scorers – created an opportunity inside their opponents’ penalty area? It was hard to think of one.
At the other end, it was much the same. Villa managed to work the ball in to better positions higher up the pitch than they had in the first half but were largely wasteful. One cross from left-back Lucas Digne was poorly struck against the first defender after Tielemans had played him, the kind that should keep players awake at night but probably doesn’t. Digne was hooked soon after so Emery at least was able to make his feelings clear.
In terms of the game, it oozed towards 90 minutes without a goal but there was to be one big moment at the death. Villa got in down the left again in the 93rd minute and when the low cross reached Philogene a goal looked certain until the shot struck Dalot and flew wide.
The United defender celebrated with gusto but had in truth been rather lucky. A piece of genuine good fortune for Ten Hag at last.