Gary Neville believes Manchester United’s goalless draw with Aston Villa has bought Erik ten Hag some time to turn matters around at Old Trafford – but believes the club’s position at the next international break in November could decide the Dutchman’s fate.
The Villa Park stalemate means United have won just three out of their opening 10 matches at the start of this season, with their eight points from a possible 21 solidifying their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.
Neville claims that while anyone of a United persuasion would have taken a draw against Unai Emery’s side before the game, it shows the “low bar” Ten Hag’s team is 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.”
‘INEOS need two or three years to turn this around’
United’s new structure – including new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe alongside INEOS director of sport David Brailsford, United chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth – all watched United’s draw at Villa in a moment under the spotlight for Ten Hag.
That structure opted to keep Ten Hag as United manager in the summer, despite speaking to a wide range of head coaches including Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank and Kieran McKenna.
Neville also believes the club hierarchy do not want to “reverse” that decision so early in the season, but where United sit in the Premier League table come the middle of November could decide Ten Hag’s fate.
“They definitely won’t want to do anything this season,” he adds. “No club wants to sack a manager during the middle of the season. It’s not just a reflection on the manager, it’s a reflection upon them.
“Even though INEOS have come into the club in the last few months in terms of taking control of the football side – and Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada have only been in for a couple of months – you can’t really land the blame at their door. They’re going to need two or three years to sort this out.
“But 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. 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.
“Because no United fan wants to see Ten Hag lose his job either, that would just feel like we’re on a roundabout, just spinning the same way we have for the last 10 to 12 years.”
Ten Hag: The Man Utd owners are with me
Ten Hag admitted Manchester United must “step up” to resolve their attacking woes after Sunday’s goalless draw with Aston Villa but insisted he has the backing of club chiefs.
Ten Hag told Sky Sports: “We know we have a lack of goals. In that perspective, it’s not a good start. Definitely not. We have to step up. If you want to win games, you have to score. That’s an area where we have to improve.
“We [Ten Hag and the United ownership] always speak. Every week we speak. We are all on board, all together, on one page. We know what we are working towards.
“It’s a long-term project and we have to keep improving the process. We had two very tough away games and we showed the togetherness and the spirit, but also the players show the belief and the faith they have.”
Man Utd’s fixtures until the next international break
October 19: Brentford (H), Premier League, kick-off 3pm
October 24: Fenerbahce (A), Europa League, kick-off 8pm
October 27: West Ham (A), Premier League, live on Sky Sports, kick-off 2pm
October 30: Leicester (H), Carabao Cup round of 16, live on Sky Sports, kick-off 7.45pm
November 3: Chelsea (H), Premier League, live on Sky Sports, kick-off 4.30pm
November 7: PAOK (H), Europa League, kick-off 8pm
November 10: Leicester (H), Premier League, kick-off 2pm
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