Manchester United hold on to Aston Villa, leaving Ten Hag's future uncertain | Premier League

What exactly this draw means for Erik ten Hag is unknown, but it may save him the humiliation of what would have happened if Manchester United had suffered defeat at Aston Villa. Perhaps. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, United's best players, had the best seats in the house and will certainly check Ten Hag's position during the international break. Bruno Fernandes hit the crossbar with a lovely free-kick and United's performance was by no means a disgrace. And yet their last win was against Barnsley and now they are five games without a win.

From training in Boavista the morning after Harry Maguire's injury-time intervention against Porto to a gray Sunday afternoon in Birmingham. Kobbie Mainoo was involved in Friday's training session, which was a player-only session, apart from Alejandro Garnacho who did not feature in the draw, and Mainoo returned to the starting line-up here as one of four changes. However, Ten Hag's most daring deployments came in defense: Jonny Evans, 37, in January, and Maguire, 31, burst into the middle of United's backline in place of Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martínez. Ten Hag's team selection prompted Gary Neville to joke that he thought he and his brother Phil might play at full-back. At least it seemed like he was joking. Maguire only made it to half-time after apparently suffering a muscle injury deep in stoppage time, which left him with a huge hole in his sock and required the assistance of two members of United's medical staff from the pitch.

Victor Lindelöf came on for Maguire in place of Noussair Mazraoui and Martínez. At first glance, the formation of the United team felt like a strange act of self-sabotage from Ten Hag. Villa is dynamic in attack and counters with speed and verve. Morgan Rogers is dangerous at half-time and when Christian Eriksen received a yellow card after denying Rogers inside two and a half minutes it set an ominous tone for what was to come. A few minutes later, Rogers maneuvered into a hole behind Mainoo and Eriksen and fired a shot wide of the goal that hit the barriers and rippled into the back of André Onana's net. Some of those Villa fans at the other end thought it was in.

Evans, an emergency signing last year, was never supposed to be around again to head away crosses at the center of this sputtering United machine, but to his credit he was arguably United's best player. “Jonny Evans is a Red,” croaked the away team as he tackled Rogers in time before stopping Ross Barkley moments later. It was Evans who sensed danger when Rogers, again exploiting the space behind United's defense and midfield, released Ollie Watkins. Onana later saved well from Youri Tielemans, who was unmarked on the edge of the D after United defended from a corner.

Marcus Rashford had the first try of the game, snatching the ball from Matty Cash halfway before firing down the left side. Rashford stepped in Barkley and fired a shot into the goal, prompting a smart save from Emiliano Martínez. The Villa goalkeeper made a similar stop minutes after the break after Mainoo Rashford played down the left channel. Midway through the second half, Martínez was beaten by Fernandes after his red card was overturned against Tottenham, but Fernandes' free kick hit the crossbar. Antony, who had only played a minute in the league before coming off the bench, shot his first attempt wide from the rebound.

Ten Hag rocked back in his chair. Unai Emery did the same as Diogo Dalot parried Jaden Philogene and Ian Maatsen's cross dribbled to him at the back post. As the game entered injury time, there was a delay as referee Rob Jones' headset technology appeared to break. It remains to be seen how much battery life remains in Ten Hag's role at United.