Manchester United took a point 0-0 after a dull game at Villa Park. Ten Hag's rumoured life-and-death battles ended in draws, reflecting the current situation of the Netherlands and the Red Devils, which are tasteless and discarded. "Teng Xuanzong" borrowed another half a month from the sky, and it would be difficult for him to be sacked from class on this international break. The Red Devils had the worst possible result, neither winning nor losing to inspire a change of manager.
Ten Hag made major changes to United's starting line-up, with Harry Maguire and Evans as the main centre-backs, and Christian Eriksen and Kobe · Mayno at the back. Ironically, on the verge of sacking class, he used more of United's former players than his descendants. On the cold bench of the Red Devils, there are seven players brought in by Ten Hag himself, with a total cost of £338 million.
Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Champions League in midweek, however, Unai Emery didn't seem to be thinking of riding on the win. Villa and Manchester United both slowed down their attacking tempo, as if they wanted to wait for the opposition to make the first move and then counter-attack themselves. The two sides were so humble that there were basically no highlights to speak of in the first half.
If you have to make a collection, there are probably only four things worth mentioning. Shortly after the break, Marcus Rashford broke the ball and drove straight in, his trademark in-cut shot was angled too wide for Darmian · Martinez to save easily. A few minutes later, Villa's Rodgers fired a powerful shot into the side-netting on the other side with a colourful pass.
Harry Maguire contributed two other eye-catching shots from the first half. He first hit the opponent's arm with a header from the edge of the box, which the referee thought was an unintentional handball and did not say anything. And just before half-time, the £80 million defender in the Europa League draw with Porto strained his left hamstring and limped off the pitch while defending a corner kick.
The likelihood of receiving a pass from the opponent was even higher than that of their teammates, and they played the trick of passing the ball to the opponent with their heels, hoping to arouse the other team's desire to attack, but unfortunately it backfired, and the score of 0-0 at half-time did not have any tendency to change the situation.
In the rematch, De Ligt replaced the injured Maguire, while Ten Hag replaced Mazraoui at right-back with Victor Lindelof, who had returned from injury, to ensure that there was only one cronie in the defence and strengthen the defence. The two teams still tried to shoot early after kick-off, and Rashford fired again from distance, but it was still saved by Martin. Villa, on the other hand, responded with two bursts from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins in the space of a minute.
Rashford was aggressive in defending but committed a lot of unnecessary fouls, and after he kicked down Leon · Bailey again after receiving a yellow card, Ten Hag quickly replaced him with Antony to avoid three consecutive red games. Zilkze also came on to replace Hojlund, which gave United a flurry of attacking fluidity and a direct free-kick in front of the penalty area, when Fernandes hit the crossbar with a 'lift ball' that came closest to a goal.
In stoppage time, Diogu · Darlow blocked Jayden · Philogine's shot at the back post to ensure the game ended 0-0. The United hierarchy of Jim· Ratcliffe, Omar· Bellada, Dan · Ashworth, Jason· Wilcox and Ferguson left the stadium without commenting on Ten Hag's position.
Manchester United's winless run extended to five, winning just two of their last seven games and failing to score in four of their last five Premier League games, the Premier League table has slipped to 14th place, making it the worst start to the Premier League in history. He broke his previous record of nine points from seven games set last season and tied with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, picking up just eight points from seven games this season.
But the eloquent Ten Hag always finds something positive: 'We've kept four clean sheets this season and Villa only had one good chance in the last minute, the only chance. The two teams were evenly matched and we showed our belief and togetherness. We didn't create any good chances today, but there have been plenty of chances in the last seven games and we dominated Porto and Crystal Palace and we were just short of scoring."
Manchester United's hierarchy will meet in Manchester on Monday before moving to their London office a day later, with co-chairman Joel · Glazer expected to fly in from United States. Ten Hag is still under intense external pressure, but ESPN reports that United's hierarchy still intends to change with the same. It is reported that after spending another 200 million pounds on Ten Hag this summer, Rajue really does not want to sack Ten Hag immediately.
First of all, this is because of financial reasons, after a year of contract extension with him, now Manchester United let the manager go, and the compensation will be as high as 17.5 million pounds, which is 7.5 million more expensive than the summer change of manager. If Ten Hag is sacked, the club will spend more than £70 million on managerial compensation since Ferdin's retirement!
In addition, the club did not find a replacement they deemed suitable this summer, and the situation has not changed much now. Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Frank and De Zerbi were approached by INEOS at the time, and Southgate has now been added to his options.
As a result, assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy was considered the favourite to take charge on an interim basis, and during the game, the broadcast footage appeared to capture Ruud van Nistelrooy arguing with Ten Hag in the dugout. But Ruud van Nistelrooy leads the team, is that enough to bring about the changes United need? The answer is probably no.
According to British media, it would be a big surprise if Ten Hag was not sitting in the Manchester United manager's position when Brentford visited Old Trafford on October 19. Unfortunately, the 54-year-old Netherlands is almost certain to remain in office, at least temporarily. It was a happy ending for the other 19 teams in the Premier League, who all wanted to see the Red Devils die from boiling frogs in warm water.
Ten Hag is naturally confident that he will stay: "The management and I always talk to each other, every week. We are all in the same boat, and on the same page, we know what we are doing. It's a long-term process. The international break is never a good time and you have to stick with it. You can see Manchester United improving, but unfortunately now the international is leaving, but every club has to deal with that.'