Man Utd analysis: Good Evans! Jonny was the best thing about draw at Villa Park
Manchester United eased the pressure slightly on Erik ten Hag after pocketing a point from a goalless draw with Aston Villa.
A torrid 3-0 defeat to Tottenham and 3-3 draw with Porto saw the heat turn up on Dutchman Ten Hag, who had United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe watching on from the stands.
There was a marked improvement after the United boss rang the changes in defence - and here, Sports News Blitz writer and Man Utd fan Robert Bore delves a little deeper into the display…
I started scribbling Erik ten Hag's obituary before kick-off, 70 minutes before to be exact and just after the team sheet for the visit to high-flying Aston Villa dropped.
Villa Park, scene of many United triumphs and historically a happy hunting ground for the men from Manchester, would be the stage.
Good away day
Whether it be Norman Whiteside winning the FA Cup semi in 1983 or Ryan Giggs' legendary solo run in 1999, trips to this particular part of Birmingham have a tendency to be a good away day.
Maybe history would be on his side. Ten Hag had gone retro.
Harry Maguire was unsurprisingly drafted back in after his late heroics in Porto combined with Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt's horror show.
He was alongside Jonny Evans, a man who returned to the club to do his coaching badges a couple of summers ago and reminiscent of the old lad still getting picked in your Sunday League team at 45 and still doing a job now Saturday night clubbing had been replaced with Strictly and a chinese.
The United players had clearly read the tactical report this time out after leaving it in the airport departures lounge in midweek.
They were tighter, compact and the press was more conservative than Jacob Reece-Mogg's underpants.
Mazraoui mojo back
Noussair Mazraoui, who had also misplaced his early-season mojo on the flight to Portugal, looked to have found it again.
Marcus Rashford also continued where he left off against Porto, before he was taken off for rotational sake, stinging Emi Martinez's hands with an early rasper.
Progress on the process?
Villa, for their part, started slow. Maybe it was a slight come down after their Champions League heroics against Bayern Munich?
I guess it can be hard to get yourself up for games against the minnows.
Ollie Watkins had only one touch of the ball in the first 25 minutes and would only make another seven before the break, as if to prove the point.
READ MORE: Greyton Roses take positives from opening-day defeat to All Stars at the Graveyard
Solid as a rock
United looked a little more solid, sort of like a toddler coming off his Cow & Gate jars and onto part-chewed toast.
Indeed, the referee was making most of the noise for Villa, Christian Eriksen earning a stupid yellow after two minutes, Maguire booked later for what looked like a very light arm across a Villa face and Kobbie Mainoo handed the same prize for an innocent 50-50 for his fourth of the campaign already.
Villa's tackles seemed exempt from sanction from referee Rob Jones, who might as well have had the old 'Candy' Liverpool strip on like his namesake.
Evans the standout for United
But it was Evans who was the standout in the first 45 minutes, putting his body on the line on demand and throwing himself at the loose ball like a giddy toddler watching CBeebies.
My heart rate was calm, no half-time rants on WhatsApp. A glass of Vimto rather than a can of Special Brew. No Valium.
This, however, is United. De Ligt trotted out for the injured Maguire and Mazraoui didn't make it back out of the dressing room, replaced by the rarely seen Victor Lindelöf - who was a wide-brimmed hat, flowing cloak and rapier away from being mistaken for one of the Three Musketeers.
But it was pretty tepid stuff. Nothing much happened.
It livened up a little as the reshuffles began after the hour.
Villa threw on supersub Jhon Duran. Joshua Zhirkzee and Anthony joined the fray for the visitors with Rashford one of those replaced, probably before he earned himself the red card he maybe already should have had in a rare show of leniency from Jones.
Bruno Fernandes' early-season luck was still holding true to form as he crashed a curling free-kick off the crossbar in the game's best moment while Anthony's follow-up was, sadly, what you come to expect from the £80m man.
IT Crowd for refs
Indeed, the most exciting part of the afternoon came when a mysterious black case was brought on to remedy the ref's comms going down for what felt like half an hour. Turn it off, turn it on again...
So where does this leave EtH? A week ago the general consensus was two defeats would see him leaving M16 in a removal van with his belongings.
Two credible away points, in normal circumstances, have followed but it was all still a bit baffling.
Talk of player rotation for his main CB pairing ahead of an international break will have pleased the coaches of Holland and Argentina.
And despite Evans rolling back the years again, eyes now turn to Martinez's injury record as he looked a yard off the pace in the Europa and was overlooked on Sunday.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Man Utd analysis: No case for the defence in poor performance v Porto
Goal drought
United have failed to score in four of their seven Premier League games this season and poor Rasmus Hojlund didn't even have a shot in anger, nor get a touch of the ball in the Villa box.
Ten Hag will point to clean sheets in four of those seven and while good defences win titles as one Sir Alex Ferguson used to say, they only do if you have someone sticking a few in at the other end.
With just five goals in those games, the last time United had fewer at the same stage was in 1972-73, when Tommy Docherty narrowly avoided the drop after coming in for Frank O'Farrell in December that season.
Last Christmas? Last Supper?
The question now is whether the Dutchman can survive the axe during the upcoming international break, let alone whether he will still be in situ by the time we've had enough of Mariah Carey and Wham.
Last Christmas? Last Supper? Only those working for Sir Jim Ratcliffe know (not him apparently) but let's be honest, the best thing about United at Villa Park - apart from Evans - was the white shirt.
