Manchester United played a goalless draw with Aston Villa at the Villa Park on Sunday to ease the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag in front of watching part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Dire defensive displays against Tottenham and Porto had left Ten Hag under scrutiny but he responded by dropping Matthijs De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez for Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans and an improved showing followed, albeit without offering much in attack.
Maguire had to go off with a leg injury at half-time but 36-year-old Evans continued to impress as Aston Villa, showing signs of fatigue following their famous Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday, struggled to break the Red Devils down.
Morgan Rogers fired wide in the first half and Youri Tielemans forced a save from Andre Onana after the break but it was United who went closest to scoring, with Bruno Fernandes, available after his red card against Spurs was overturned, crashing a free-kick off the bar.
There was a let-off for United when Marcus Rashford avoided a second yellow card for a trip on Leon Bailey in the second half, and a low-quality game finally opened up in stoppage time when Diogo Dalot made a goal-line block from Jaden Philogene and Alejandro Garnacho missed a golden chance to put Fernandes through on goal.
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The draw extended United’s winless run to five games in all competitions and ensured they have made their worst-ever start to a Premier League season, with only eight points from seven games.
However, the battling display should at least earn Ten Hag a reprieve going into the international break.
Ten Hag’s side remain in 14th place in the Premier League, while Aston Villa fall three points behind third-placed Arsenal in fifth place.
Ten Hag said after the game: “We had very good organisation and very good personality in the team. Resilient, determined. So it was a very good spirit as a team.
“We almost didn’t concede a chance. When you defend like this, you can have some luck, like in the end with the big chance at the back post.
“But that was almost the only chance they had. We had some control in possession. We created some chances, although not so many.
“It was really balanced. We hit the bar and a good chance for Rashy. But the two teams were really balanced.”
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