In round 7 of the Premier League, Man United could only draw 0-0 against Aston Villa. This was the 5th consecutive match without a win for the Red Devils in all competitions, and also left them stuck in 14th place on the Premier League table.
As usual, Man United's performance was met with criticism. Legendary Paul Scholes said his former team seemed reluctant to win, according to Metro: "Man Utd usually only go for a point when they have a difficult game. I never felt they were trying to win the game. It was like the players went out there and just tried to execute a survival tactic."
Against Aston Villa, coach Ten Hag left three new recruits Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Zirkzee on the bench. According to Scholes, this proves that Man United's transfer policy is very ineffective.
He added: “Zirkzee, who is he? Will he play as a number nine or a number 10? Will he score 20 goals a season? I don’t believe so. I think Man United are more based on hope than on facts. The problem is that they have spent too much money. It is an absurd amount of money and many of their number 1 players are not starting.
You think of Ugarte when he arrived, who was expected to change the midfield. But now he’s not playing. De Ligt cost £50m and he’s also backing up Jonny Evans, who’s 36. It’s a complete mess of a transfer.”
