A defeat at Villa Park last weekend would be the end for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United. However, 1 point against the team that just beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League is not a bad achievement for the "Red Devils". Therefore, Ten Hag will temporarily breathe a sigh of relief even though he does not know what the future holds.
This past week has been a series of sustained breathless visits by Man United in the Europa League and Premier League. They are rated lower than FC Porto and Aston Villa when they have to visit at a time when their form is reaching its bottom. In the match at Dragao, The Red Devils' defense was too bad when they lost 3 consecutive goals after leading 2-0. At Villa Park, with a completely different pair of central defenders, they stood firm against Unai Emery's army.
125 million Euros is the price Man United spent to bring Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt to Old Trafford. However, the duo played too badly against Porto and were kept on the bench in their trip to Villa Park. After many years of spending a lot of money, M.U finally had to rely on the veterans who were seemingly fired, Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans. Remember, when M.U were just a few minutes away from losing at Dragao, it was Maguire who headed the equalizer to 3-3 to keep 1 point.
Since last season, Ten Hag has always talked about the need for personnel to rotate. That is why in the summer transfer window of 2024, the Dutch strategist added Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt. However, unlike the midfield and forward lines, rotating the defense is very dangerous and usually no one does it. The foundation of a good team must come from the shield in front of the goal, but perhaps 125 million Euros is not enough for Man United.
Therefore, both as a temporary solution and a philosophical one, Ten Hag should rotate the defense until he finds the most compatible central defender pair. Not the De Ligt - Martinez pair, it could be Maguire - Evans. Evans' inclusion in the starting lineup at Villa Park shows two things. First, Ten Hag is showing everyone that Man United have enough players to rotate. Second, there is no way he would promote his former Ajax students when both De Ligt and Martinez are on the bench.
Against Aston Villa, Maguire and Evans showed that they are experienced and classy enough to face the opponent's high-speed attack. The comments that the pair were too slow and could not support the ball from home were somewhat extinguished. In many situations, Maguire or Evans will break up on both wings or one will drop back to cover, supporting the opponent to go forward.
After Maguire left the pitch due to injury, De Ligt was brought in to partner Evans. Aston Villa's most dangerous situation came from a cross from the left wing when De Ligt slipped. If it were not for Dalot's back, Onana's net might have been shaken. Before and after that moment, Evans still almost weighed the home team's defense with direct attacks against Ross Barkley, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran.
After the match, Man United got 1 more point but that was only the 8th point since the beginning of the season. After 7 matches with 14th place in the rankings, Ten Hag has set another record as this is the "Red Devils" worst start in the Premier League era. However, for Evans, he had a full day of competition with the MVP title.
If he had stayed at Man United, Ten Hag would have had 2 weeks to reassure himself and find new tactical options. The draw with Aston Villa has taught the Dutch strategist a valuable lesson that sometimes rookies with a few tens of millions of Euros are not as experienced and always play with the greatest pride as Evans.
