Nachrichten

It said a lot that when the pressure was on Erik ten Hag last weekend, he picked a Manchester United squad that had more of his signings on the bench than in the starting line up.

Just four of the outfield players at Villa Park were signed by Ten Hag, two of them free agents in the form of Jonny Evans and Christian Eriksen and Noussair Mazraoui was the only summer signing still in the starting line up for arguably their most important match of the season so far.

It meant United named a bench worth £436 million, with seven of the nine substitutes signed by the under fire manager during his time at the helm. This should alarm club chiefs more than the manner of their blunt performance.

When evaluating what happens next with Ten Hag, it is difficult to make any case to confidently claim things will get better based on the evidence we have seen so far this season.

In their third season under the Dutchman, United still lack any real identity other than one of unpredictable chaos, and they no longer have the convenient injury excuse as they did last season. While the club didn't exactly endorse Ten Hag with a new contract in the summer, they got themselves into an even bigger mess when they allowed him to still have a strong say in recruitment, and ended up throwing even more money at a problem that was already out of hand. Having spent another £200 million in the summer, only £12.8m of it was on show from the start at Villa Park, while £42m star Manuel Ugarte didn't even make it onto the pitch at all.

It leaves United in an uncomfortable purgatory. They either persist with a manager they have already invested heavily in, or they go in another direction and will have to back a new manager with even more money in a hope it finally comes good. There is no clear solution.

Having recorded a loss of £113.2m for last season, Ineos can't afford to simply write off the £200 million they backed Ten Hag with in the summer and put it down as a misguided mistake, whoever is in charge will be tasked with ensuring their investment finally comes good.

Ten Hag will argue he is still the right man to lead this United team forward, but the fact he didn't trust his own summer signings against Aston Villa suggests he isn't.