Erik ten Hag snubs Jonny Evans as he picks out three Man United players who impressed him vs Aston Villa

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Erik ten Hag will wait to find out whether a draw against Aston Villa is enough for him to survive as Manchester United manager.

The Dutchman finds himself under huge pressure after a very disappointing start to the season.

Many thought that the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham last weekend would be the final straw, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe gave Erik ten Hag two games to try and turn things around.

The first of those came in the chaotic 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League, and Erik ten Hag followed that up with another draw against Aston Villa on Sunday.

It means United have failed to win any of their last five games in all competitions, but also have only lost once in their last seven matches.

Manchester United’s hierarchy, including Ratcliffe, were present at Villa Park but it is yet to be seen whether they saw enough to keep Ten Hag as manager beyond the October international break.

Erik ten Hag impressed by Man United trio

Ten Hag may have been bought time as Manchester United manager thanks to a combative performance from his side at Villa Park.

He deserves credit for the changes at the back, with Harry Maguire and Player of the Match Jonny Evans both impressing after replacing Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez at centre-back.

But after the full-time whistle, Ten Hag admitted that he was impressed with three players at the other end of the pitch.

As quoted by BBC Sport, Ten Hag said: “We created some chances, also not so many chances. We hit the crossbar and also Marcus Rashford had chances. But the two teams were really balanced.

“In Porto our build-up was brilliant, so good in the first 25 minutes, we out-played Porto. Also Palace, in possession we were so good, we have had games this season where we are good. But today we didn’t create too many chances, but also we played a great team.

“We create loads of chances in our seven games but we have to step up. We have to take into consideration [Rasmus] Hojlund is returning, he’s still coming up to full fitness. But others are stepping up. I was impressed from [Marcus] Rashford, also Alejandro Garnacho is so good, and Antony at the end.”

Man United must improve in attack

United have missed too many big chances this season, but it is even more worrying when the side are not creating chances in the first place.

That was certainly the case against Villa. Bruno Fernandes hit the bar and Rashford had a half-chance on goal, but other than that the attacking players were sloppy and void of ideas.

READ MORE: Five things learned from Manchester United’s goalless draw against Aston Villa

Joshua Zirkzee looked poor off the bench and Fernandes continued his poor form after back-to-back red cards.

There were plenty of positives from the Villa game – United were solid defensively and controlled the game against strong opposition, but it easily could have been three points on the board if the forwards were sharper.