How Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United played out a drab goalless draw away to Aston Villa (2025)

• United’s (lack of) game plan
• Super Jonny Evans
• Lucky Marcus Rashford
• What the result means

The Athletic's Carl Anka and Mark Critchley delivered The Briefing — give it a read below.

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How did all that tremendous Villa Park action go down with you guys then? Here is the pick of the reaction over on our Discuss page — which is still ticking over now, if you fancy a bit more fallout:

💬 Michael B: United’s quality in attack was really poor. Last season they depended on Garnacho but he’s gone right off the boil. Well possible they finish in the bottom half this season.

💬 Guy S: Good defensive performance from the Villa. We shut out a United team at home. That’s progress. Five starters out as well. Should’ve won as I can’t believe how poor United are. Love being a Villa fan right now.

💬 Cian S: Shades of Jose and Ole at the end. Zero impetus or endeavour in the final third, particularly from Zirkzee. Bruno has been amazing throughout but so frustrating this season. My question is how does Erik/another manager change this? That was a perfect game to start quick and catch villa on the hop from a European hangover. Looks like another season of drift unfortunately.

Manchester United’s 3-3 draw at Porto saw them dubbed as “great entertainment for the neutral”.

Today’s mildly improved performance probably bored anyone who tuned in to observe.

Erik ten Hag’s side had failed to score in three of their last four Premier League matches before facing Aston Villa, and they rarely threatened today.

A point halts some of the bleeding, but they remain in the bottom half of the league table with one of their lowest points totals ever after seven matches.

If United are to be a success in 2024-25, all relevant parties will have to find better solutions for a myriad of long-standing issues.

Manchester United’s players and staff appeared frustrated with referee Rob Jones’ officiating towards the end of a first half, which saw them pick up three yellow cards as — in their view — Aston Villa got away with similar infractions.

But things even themselves out throughout a season as they say, and sometimes over the course of a single game.

Therefore, Marcus Rashford could count himself a little fortunate in the second half not to be sent off…

In the context of Bruno Fernandes’ back-to-back red cards over the past week, it was not the smartest bit of play and meant United were without a player who had been their most dangerous counter-attacking outlet for the previous half hour.

It is unusual for a Premier League manager to face questions over the style of football he is trying to play after he’s been in place for more than two seasons.

In the first half at Villa Park, Erik ten Hag tried to provide some answers.

The United manager rolled the dice and went for a bold starting XI with Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire as his centre-back pairing.

Eagle-eyed sleuths eventually figured out the line-up had a lot of similarities to the team that beat Villa 3-2 on Boxing Day last year — but once United kicked off, it became clear Ten Hag had switched things up…

The injury to Harry Maguire just before half-time looked a nasty one, and it was no surprise he didn’t emerge for the second half.

That wasn’t the case with Noussair Mazraoui however. The Moroccan defender was also substituted after the break.

Erik ten Hag confirmed both had to be withdrawn ahead of the second half, and it will have to wait until tomorrow for a diagnosis of the pair’s issues.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was honest in his post-match appraisal, speaking to BBC Sport:

💬 “It is not the best result but it’s not the worst. A draw is fair. We played the second half much better than the first, and at the end we were close to winning.

“We had two chances at the end, we tried to score but couldn’t.

“Maybe we needed some refreshed players. And we have some players injured. But the players we have, they respond really well.

“We prepared trying to win, we didn’t do it, but we have to be overall happy with this month, how we are in the table and what we are trying to build.”

Speaking to Sky Sports, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag was also asked about the substitution of Marcus Rashford — who seemed lucky to avoid two bookings — and the seemingly nasty injury to Harry Maguire just before half-time:

💬 “Yes, that was one of the reasons to take (Rashford) off. If it was another foul, probably he would be sent off. We can’t take another risk.

“(Maguire) didn’t feel well after half-time so I had to take him off.”

And then there was the watching club hierarchy, after a week in which the pressure was once again on the Manchester United manager:

💬 “We always speak. Every week we speak. We are all on board together, on one page, we know what we are working through and it’s a long-term process.

“We have come through two very tough away games. This is a team. We showed the belief and faith we have.”

Another failure to score for United today, the fourth time they have gone without a goal in seven Premier League matches.

They have scored just five goals in those seven games, their lowest yield at this stage of the campaign since 1972.

When you consider three of those goals came in the visit to Southampton, it paints an even bleaker picture for Ten Hag's forwards.

We won’t share any looks at the Premier League table since our goalless draw at Villa Park.

Primarily because Tottenham have just kicked off at Brighton.

It remains goalless through the opening 15 minutes, although had Timo Werner not overhit a low cross after just 15 seconds, Brennan Johnson may well have given Spurs the lead.

But that one at The Amex is the final fixture of this game week, with the international break taking over from here.

A rare sight at Villa Park today.

Today's stalemate was the first goalless draw there in the Premier League since May 2021.

That is 62 games ago!

As you can imagine, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag was keen to accentuate how well his team did at Villa Park — especially with the watching brief of the club’s key figures in the stands.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Ten Hag said:

💬 “It’s the fourth clean sheet this season. You see we had a very good organisation and togetherness. There was good character and good spirit as a team. Determined, resilient.

“We almost didn’t concede a chance. When you defend like this and get some luck, in the end they had a big chance but it was almost the only chance I think.

“We created some chances, also not so many chances. We hit the crossbar and also Rashford had chances. But the two teams were really balanced.”

The match between Chelsea and Nottingham Forest had something we didn't have at Villa Park: goals.

But there was still no winner.

Forest took the lead through Chris Wood early in the second half but Chelsea pulled level through Noni Madueke. Enzo Maresca's side pushed for a late winner after James Ward-Prowse was sent off for the visitors but it finished 1-1.

Jonny Evans was also asked by Sky Sports about how he felt, stepping into the breach on Thursday in Porto and then again today:

💬 “Even against Porto, I wasn’t expecting to come on at all. Victor (Lindelof)’s coming back from injury and it’s unlikely we’re going to make two centre-back substitutions.

“But I just enjoy every moment I’m out on the pitch now. I’ve got that buzz for every game I go into and I really appreciate it, enjoy it and try to make the most of it.

“It’s a privilege to play for this club. I’ve had a lot of affiliation with (Manchester United) and the pressure that comes with it is a privilege too.”

• What was Manchester United’s game plan?
• The Jonny Evans gamble pays off
• Lucky Marcus Rashford
• What does the result actually mean?
• And what now for Erik ten Hag?

Carl Anka and Mark Critchley break down the key talking points from Villa Park in The Briefing. Read it with the link below…

Manchester United veteran defender Jonny Evans was the deserving recipient of the Player of the Match award. The 36-year-old spoke to Sky Sports just now:

💬 “It wasn’t perfect, we didn’t pass the ball as we’d have liked to but we got a point against a good side away from home.

“Conceding three goals the other night, we wanted to be a bit more defensive-minded and make sure that we didn’t concede to give ourselves a chance.

“We were looking for that one moment of quality or counter attack, and we nearly got it at the end but fair play to Villa. They’re a good team and they played well today.”

“In short, let’s hope for better from the second half” I typed at half-time. Look, I tried. Here are the full-time numbers, which are at least as entertaining as any highlights package that’s getting put together from that…

FT: Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester Utd

• Possession: 54% — 46%
• Shots: 11 — 10
• On target: 1 — 4
• XG: 0.42 — 0.52
• Big chances: 0 — 0
• Blocked shots: 3 — 2
• Touches in opposition box: 24 — 11
• Duels won: 38 — 50
• Dispossessed: 12 — 3

In fairness to Manchester United, they created the better chances and could have nicked it on the break at some point. They also hit the crossbar. But neither side really created enough to deserve a victory.

While that goalless draw was an improvement on some of Manchester United's other recent results, it confirms their worst start to a league season since the 1989-90 campaign.

They have amassed just eight points from their opening seven games (two wins, two draws and three defeats).

In the aforementioned 1989-90 season, they finished 13th, which would be Alex Ferguson's lowest league finish as United manager.

He didn't do too badly after that, to be fair...

As for Manchester United, this is mostly what we’ve seen of them. They have a level and they can cause any opponent issues — be it in attack or being defensively stubborn.

Although maybe not both at the same time.

Whether these 90 minutes move anything on in terms of the narrative and pressure surrounding Erik ten Hag? That seems very unlikely.

It was ineffective, it came with some really unconvincing individual performances… and yet, they picked up a point at Villa Park to go with it all.

Given Aston Villa’s season has been promising so far, and they had that stirring Champions League win over Bayern Munich in midweek, they may well not mind sweeping up another point on a day when little seemed to come off.

In fact, their biggest issue may be the injury picked up by Ezri Konsa early in the game.

That may well rule him out of England duty, but Unai Emery will be more concerned about the other side of the two-week international break.