Villa draw buys Ten Hag a little time, says Neville

Gary Neville believes Manchester United bought Erik ten Hag time with their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, but is not sure how much.

United are winless in their last five games in all competitions, with their stalemate at Villa Park the fourth draw in that run, having also lost 3-0 to Tottenham in their last home match.

Ten Hag’s side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.

Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.

Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the “low bar” the team is currently working with.

“It’s a small step forward,” Neville told Sky Sports. “Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.

“That’s where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag’s interview, there’s an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.

“I don’t think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.

“It’s Manchester United’s worst start in Premier League history so we can’t celebrate. When we’re thinking it’s a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come – but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time.”

Stalemate at Villa Park.#MUFC || #AVLMUN

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 6, 2024

Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club’s hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.

However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).

While Neville does not think the club will rush into a decision on Ten Hag’s future, he admits they might have to if things have not changed by the November international break.

“The club did make the decision to keep Ten Hag in the summer, so they won’t want to reverse that decision within the first six or seven games,” Neville added.

“They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks – through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.

“Manchester United fans, coaches, players have talked about this new structure that surrounds Ten Hag, it needs to go to work quite quickly in the next few weeks.

“If the next international break comes around and Manchester United are still in that 13th, 14th position in the league, I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure.

“The next few weeks are critical in making sure they can somehow get some momentum for the rest of the season so that Ten Hag can keep his job.”