Manchester United put in a much-needed stoic defensive performance at Villa Park on Sunday to earn a 0-0 draw.
The Red Devils, having conceded six goals in their last two games, were much more solid defensively against an in-form Aston Villa on Sunday. They were so solid, in fact, that the game turned out to be rather dire one for neutrals.
While the clean sheet was a step in the right direction for Man Utd, it did ensure that the club have made their worst start ever to a Premier League campaign.
How the game unfolded
As expected, Aston Villa were the much, much better team in the opening exhanges, taking advantage of the lack of mobility in Man Utd's defensive set-up.
The home side came within a whisker of taking a deserved lead just eight minutes into the game when a neat bit of interplay between Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers culminated in the latter having a decent sight of goal. His subsequent effort, although well hit, fly just wide of the right post.
An injury to Ezri Konsa stunted Villa's momentum soon after, with Man Utd cleverly opting to congest the middle of the park in order to quell the influence of Rogers, Youri Tielemans and co.
Man Utd would be forced into defensive changes of their own at half-time. Both Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui were hooked off due to suspected injury concerns, and were replaced by Victor Lindelof and the under-fire Matthijs de Ligt.
Despite the unwanted changes, the Red Devils started the second half well, creating their first half-chance of the game in the 48th minute. The chance would fall to Marcus Rashford who, after cutting in from the left flank, fired a powerful effort goalward which had to be tipped over the crossbar by Emi Martinez.
Rashford was then very, very lucky not to be sent off soon after. The wide forward left a lazy leg out to trip Leon Bailey on the right flank while already on a yellow card, and was rather fortunately given the benefit of the doubt by referee Rob Jones.
In the 67th minute of the game, we were finally treated to a big of genuine quality. Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes curled a wonderful free kick over the Villa wall from 25-yards out, but was denied a goal by the crossbar.
After that effort on goal from Fernandes, not a lot else happened in truth. Villa had a lot of possession, but failed to do anything with it - regularly seeing crosses from the flank fly out for goal kicks or comfortably into the arms of Andre Onana.
In added time at the end of the game, Villa finally carved open a decent chance. Some clever play down the left flank culminated in the ball bundling it's way across to Jaden Philogene-Bidace on the right of the penalty area. The Villa man's subsequent effort on goal was fantastically well blocked by Diogo Dalot.
FCIQ
Man Utd fans perhaps feared the worst when they found that Erik ten Hag had opted to play the club's two slowest centre-backs against one of the quickest strikers in the Premier League.
In the end, it proved to be a pretty damn good decision. The pair of Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire (Matthijs de Ligt in the second half), along with the midfield trio of Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo and Christian Eriksen were able overload the middle of the park and largely prevent Ross Barkley, Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans from having a creative impact on the game.
A shrewd move from the under-fire Erik ten Hag.
Aston Villa player ratings (4-4-1-1)
GK: Emi Martinez - 6/10 - Made one decent save at the start of the second half.
RB: Matty Cash - 5/10 - Got forward frequently but didn't provide any sort of quality delivery for Watkins.
CB: Ezri Konsa - N/A - Subbed off after just 12 minutes with an injury.
CB: Pau Torres - 6/10 - Used the ball well and didn't have a massive amount of defending to do.
LB: Lucas Digne - 3/10 - His set piece delivery was off all afternoon.
RM: Leon Bailey - 5/10 - Failed to make much of an impact on proceedings.
CM: Ross Barkley - 5/10 - Smothered in midfield by a compact Man Utd.
CM: Youri Tielemans - 5/10 - Much like Barkley, Tielemans failed to make an impact.
LM: Jaden Philogene-Bidace - 5/10 - Quiet outing all in, completed just eight passes which tells you all you really need to know.
AM: Morgan Rogers - 5/10 - Saw a lot of the ball but didn't do a whole lot with it.
ST: Ollie Watkins - 5/10 - His teammates simply didn't create any chances for him on the day. Frustrated up against Jonny Evans.
Substitutes
SUB: Diego Carlos (12' for Konsa) - 6/10 - Overpowered Hojlund on more than one occasion.
SUB: Jhon Duran (63' for Bailey) - 5/10
SUB: Ian Maatsen (85' for Lucas Digne) - N/A
Manager - Unai Emery - 6/10 - Forced to rotate after a dramatic Champions League encounter in mid-week. He was let down on the day by his offensive players' lack of quality in the final third.
Man Utd player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Andre Onana - 5/10 - He didn't have a whole lot to do, which was very surprising.
RB: Noussair Mazraoui - 6/10 - Surprisingly subbed off at half-time, potentially due to an injury.
CB: Harry Maguire - 6/10 - The defender pulled up with an injury in the added time at the end of the first half, and was subbed off as a result.
CB: Jonny Evans - 8/10 - They've spent a lot of money on defenders in recent years, but Jonny Evans proved on Sunday that he's probably the best centre-back Erik ten Hag has at his disposal.
LB: Diogo Dalot - 7/10 - Extremely solid on the left flank, winning 100% of his duels and 100% of his tackles.
CM: Kobbie Mainoo - 6/10 - He wasn't able to create much in the final third, but he did his job in the defensive on by winning six duels and recovering possession five times.
CM: Christian Eriksen - 5/10 - Never really got his foot on the ball in the middle of the park.
RM: Alejandro Garnacho - 5/10 - Won a few fouls to stem the flow of Villa's attack, but didn't do much int he offensive end of the park otherwise.
AM: Bruno Fernandes - 5/10 - His passing was rather wayward at times, but he provided one of the few moments of quality in the game when he hit the crossbar with a free kick.
LM: Marcus Rashford - 5/10 - Forced Martinez into a smart save in the second half, but perhaps also should've been sent off for two silly challenges.
ST: Rasmus Hojlund - 5/10 - Ran the channels and worked hard, but got zero service during his hour on the pitch.
Substitutes
SUB: Matthijs de Ligt (45' for Maguire) - 6/10 - Defended well when he came on.
SUB: Victor Lindelof (45' for Mazraoui) - 6/10 - Slotted in to the right side of Man Utd's defence seamlessly.
SUB: Antony (64' for Rashford) - 6/10
SUB: Joshua Zirkzee (64' for Hojlund) - 4/10
SUB: Casemiro (85' for Mainoo) - 5/10
Manager - Erik ten Hag - 7/10 - Ten Hag needed to sure up his defence, and he did exactly that. A much-needed solid defensive outing from the Red Devils.
Player of the match - Jonny Evans (Man Utd)
READ THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS, RUMOURS & GOSSIP
feed
