While that may have been one of the most boring yet confusing matches of football I've ever watched, I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing.

However, where does this leave ten Hag? That was the question heading into this game as everyone was saying that lose and he's gone, win and he could stay. Not many predicted a drab draw.

This is now United's second draw in two games and fourth in five. While it was all about the manager, MUFC in general needed a win as they now sit in 14th in the league with just 8 points from 7 games.

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His starting lineup left us all confused as he had Maguire and Evans as centre-backs (never thought I'd be saying that in 2024) and out of all his new signings who are available, only Mazraoui started but that's because he and Dalot are our only full-back options.

The game never really took off as it looked like it was between two teams who didn't really fancy it or were still weary from their mid-week European fixtures.

It was actually quite surprising that Villa were so poor given the position they're in, the fact that they were at home, they beat Bayern on Wednesday and we are shite.

This did help United out quite a bit.

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The home side had just the 1 shot on target which was a fairly comfortable save for Onana after a Tielemans shot from outside the box. United had 4 but none really troubled Martinez in the other goal as well.

The closest either side came to scoring was when Bruno hit the post from a free-kick although Villa did have a really good opportunity to grab the win late on but thanks to a Dalot block, the game ended 0-0.

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For United, it was a mixed bag performance. The defensive side of things, the team were really good. Onana had nothing to do and despite the concerns about Evans and Maguire the pair did pretty well until Maguire was taken off injured at halftime.

De Ligt came in and carried on the good work done by Maguire, Mazraoui was also good for the time he was on but was weirdly substituted at halftime for Lindelof who played his first minutes this season and Dalot was also a lot better than he has been in previous games.

Christian Eriksen put in another decent performance in midfield despite picking up a yellow card 2 minutes in.

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The rest of the team though, was where we were simply not good enough.

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All of Mainoo, Bruno, Garnacho, Rashford and Hojlund were poor in a game where it looked like any moment of magic could produce the winner. Between those five players, they should have more than enough quality to produce something.

United going forward was summed up by Garnacho towards the end as we had a breakaway of 3-v-1 and all the winger needed to do was play a very simple pass to Bruno and we were in.

He kicked it straight into the Villa defender when he had more than enough space and time to find a team-mate.

The game then ended and I don't really know where we go from here.

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I've no doubt that Erik ten Hag will be fairly content with his team's performance and the fact that we kept Villa down to 1 shot on target but other than that and a good defensive shape, there was nothing else.

His starting lineup was still perplexing; his substitutions made no sense; not selecting or bringing on any of his new signings unless absolutely necessary was shocking. Now that this team has performed relatively well, he would most likely have to stick with it, should he remain as manager.

But what of his new signings and the players the club backed him with? What of the general performance which while wasn't as terrible as what we saw last week, still wasn't good enough. Can we even trust this team to not only go and perform in the next game at home to Brentford but to actually show up?

ten Hag's favoritism and contradictions were still plain to see. He clearly dropped Martinez because he's been poor despite him saying it was for rotation but if it is rotation, why is it that Bruno and Eriksen were still in the team although they've been playing constantly this season?

I really don't know what to make of that game and the manager.

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Ratings:

Onana - 6

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Mazraoui - 6.5

Maguire - 6.5

Evans - 7 MOTM

Dalot - 6.5

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Eriksen - 6.5

Mainoo - 5

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Garnacho - 4

Bruno - 4

Rashford - 4

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Hojlund - 4

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De Ligt - 6.5

Lindelof - 6

Zirkzee - 4

Antony - 5

Casemiro - 5

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Erik ten Hag - 4

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Final Thoughts

Leaves more questions than answers. I don't know what they're going to do with the manager. He didn't win nor lose so does this mean he'll stay? Was it still not good enough to keep him in a job? Was his starting XI and substitutions confusing to the board considering how much they backed him?

I honestly feel that he may have done enough to keep his position because regardless of how Villa played, they are a good team who are playing well and we were away from home. This would've been a good point even if United were playing well.

I don't think there was enough to sack him tbh.

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This team selection seemed to be one of just thinking about this game and perhaps survival. There's no long-term process with it even though that is what the manager constantly says.

I've also been very disappointed with the performances of players like Mainoo and Garnacho as they are two whom we have high hopes for but have been really below par this season. We've seen these types of performances from Rashford and Bruno before and it's more on ten Hag for not changing them.

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But where do we go from here?

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Background Image: Youri Tielemans and Rasmus Hojlund | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)