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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag saw the positive side after anding a potentially pivotal week with a pair of draws.
The defeat at home to Tottenham at the end of September prompted suggestions he had two games to save his job. He didn't win either but also didn't lose either, drawing 3-3 with Porto in the Europa League before earning a goalless Premier League draw away to Aston Villa.
United's point at Villa Park left them in the bottom half of the league table going into the international break. A return of eight points from seven games is their worst at this stage of a Premier League season - one fewer than they had under Ten Hag this time last year.
The club's hierarchy opted to keep faith with Ten Hag over the summer after last season's eighth place finish, but a board meeting this week could have more of a bearing on the Dutchman's future. Ten Hag was bullish, though, viewing the last week as a situation of two points gained rather than four lost.
"We have come through two very tough away games," Ten Hag told Sky Sports. "This is a team, we showed the belief and faith we have."
He praised his team's defensive resilience against Villa, with player of the match Jonny Evans impressing at centre-back. "I think it's the fourth clean sheet this season. You see we had a very good organisation and togetherness," Ten Hag argued.
"There was good character and good spirit as a team. Determined, resilient. We almost didn't concede a chance, when you defend like this and get some luck, in the end they had a big chance but it was almost the only chance I think."
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Jonny Evans impressed after being recalled by Erik ten Hag
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Getty Images)
Before the game, former United captain Gary Neville suggested the club's hierarchy wanted to give Ten Hag time to turn things around. He suggested a heavy defeat at Villa Park might change that, but United avoided such an outcome.
"One thing's for certain, when you speak to people around the club, they don't want to make that decision," Neville told Sky Sports from the NBC Sports studio. "They want to try and be different and get through this difficult time.
"It is their first time in this situation, and they've got a lot of evidence over the last 10 years of how to do it and how not to do it, and I suppose at this moment in time they'll want to try and make their own decision based upon what they're thinking."
Ten Hag's opposite number Unai Emery thought a draw at Villa Park was the right result. Emery's Villa team end the weekend in fifth, outside the top four on goal difference thanks to Chelsea picking up a point against Nottingham Forest.
"We played the second half much better than the first and at the end we were close to winning the match," the former Villarreal manager told Match of the Day. "We had two chances at the end of the game, we tried to score but couldn't. I think a draw is fair.
"Maybe today we needed some refreshed players. And we have some players injured. But the players we have they respond really well. We will need the players helping. We prepared this match trying to win, we didn't do it but we have to be overall happy with this month, how we are in the table and what we are trying to build."
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