Nachrichten

Seven games into the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, only newly-promoted Southampton have scored fewer goals than Manchester United.

Sunday's 0-0 draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park marked a third successive league game without a goal for the Reds, whose opening seven outings this term have yielded just five goals. Only Southampton have celebrated fewer, netting four.

After conceding six goals in their two previous outings ahead of the trip to Villa, sieving three at the hands of both Tottenham Hotspur and FC Porto, Erik ten Hag set his team up with the ambition of not losing in the Midlands.

READ MORE: United are making decisions that suggest someone else is still in charge

READ MORE: Inside the United meeting that is set to decide Erik ten Hag's future

Securing a fourth Premier League clean sheet of the season, United earned themselves a point. Had they not made the trip to Villa Park on the back of a four-game winless run, a point and a clean sheet against a team that had beaten Bayern Munich just a few days earlier would have been considered as a solid result.

But with United currently struggling for goals and victories, Sunday's stalemate was met with a feeling of frustration and disappointment. United are becoming increasingly frustrating to watch once again after it felt like a corner had been turned when they dispatched of Southampton and Barnsley and performed so well for 45 minutes against Crystal Palace last month.

However far United may have fallen over the past 11 years, there is still an expectation for them to win every game and to entertain their supporters. However, United have lost any form of identity they ever had under Ten Hag, becoming increasingly hard to watch with a solid understanding of what they are trying to achieve.

A lack of goals so far this season has made watching them all the more challenging. They often look bereft of ideas inside the final third, resulting in groans and cries of 'Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack' from their loyal army of supporters.

Of course, any manager is capable of hitting the right notes in a first interview after arriving at their new club, but anything that is said by someone in a position as prestigious as the one Ten Hag finds himself in is rarely forgotten.

In his first sit-down interview with the club's in-house media in May 2022, Ten Hag vowed that United, under his supervision, would try to produce entertaining football. If that was not possible, he would still set the demand of winning. United, however, are failing on both fronts.

"I want to build and construct a team who are battling for each other, who are unified and who will get results," said Ten Hag after joining the club. "Also we are playing in the Theatre of Dreams. We want to entertain.

"But in the end, the intention is to play fantastic football. If we can't play fantastic football, we still have to win."

Every club is entitled to a period of underwhelming performances and results. It is the nature of football.

However, United's performances, in the main, have been uninspiring since the beginning of last season, rarely producing a brand of football that has left supporters on the edge of their seats. Instead, they either witnessed chaos or been bored out of their brains.

United have reached a point where it is becoming increasingly hard to envision Ten Hag turning their fortunes around and implementing a style of play that is reflective of the club's ethos. He is now three seasons into his United premiership and his vision is still yet to put in regular appearances.