By admin It summed the entire reign up didn’t it? Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United travelled to Villa Park prior to the international break and they took to the pitch without a wave of the Dutchman’s signings.
Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt were dropped after the debacle in Porto. Casemiro was on the bench, as too were new signings Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte. The Uruguayan had started just one Premier League match before being forced to sit among the subs. It’s not ideal, really.
Without that glittering away of talent, United actually did well. A 0-0 draw against an Aston Villa side who had just beaten Bayern Munich on the same ground in the Champions League was impressive to be truthful.
Yet, it can’t really have helped Ten Hag’s cause. The team are underperforming which is down to a host of reasons but the attack are unable to fire and the goals are not flowing.
This has been a sorry old campaign to date for the Red Devils. It’s the worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign after seven games with Ten Hag’s side sat in a dismal 14th place. Things will get better, surely? Who knows at this point?
United are performing pretty well in defensive areas, believe it or not, with Andre Onana registering the most clean sheets in the league.
They have shipped eight league goals – as many as Chelsea and Manchester City – but they have scored just five times, the second-lowest number in the entire top flight with Crystal Palace. Only Southampton (4) are worse off.
Zirkzee scored a dramatic late winner on his debut against Fulham but it hasn’t been plain sailing for the Dutch signing. The striker has failed to score since.