Paul Scholes has admitted that Erik ten Hag could walk away with one major positive after what he saw from two Manchester United players against Aston Villa.
Erik ten Hag’s men returned to Premier League action on Sunday afternoon and Manchester United secured a point on their trip to Villa Park.
Neither United nor Aston Villa were able to make the breakthrough in their last Premier League match ahead of the October international break.
Both the Red Devils and Villa played out a 0-0 draw in the Premier League encounter, with Erik ten Hag’s side continuing their struggling league form.
United have collected only eight points from a possible 21 points on offer from their opening seven league matches, with the Red Devils currently 14th in the table.
Scholes on two Man Utd stars
Speaking after the 0-0 draw, Paul Scholes claimed that Manchester United appeared a “lot better and organised” than some of their previous performances this season.
Erik ten Hag deployed Kobbie Mainoo in midfield alongside Christian Eriksen, with the centre of the pitch having been a key weakness for the Red Devils at times.
Kobbie Mainoo played 85 minutes before Ten Hag took him off for Casemiro, while Christian Eriksen saw out the full 90 minutes for United at Villa Park.
Scholes suggested that United had a “really solid platform” thanks to the partnership of Mainoo and Eriksen, which prevented the midfield from falling apart in the match.
“I think that they were a lot better and organised,” he said, as per the Premier League’s official website.
“They looked more difficult to play against, more difficult to break through, which usually happens and it’s normally wide open.
“But I thought Mainoo and Eriksen next to him gave them a really solid platform.
“I also think they were helped by Villa’s game on Wednesday. I think it was a bit of a flat game from Aston Villa, and I just think United tried to survive.”
Scholes on Man Utd result vs Villa
Ten Hag has been under mounting pressure this season over United’s form and results, with speculation growing over his long-term future at Old Trafford.
The 54-year-old United manager watched the Red Devils drop valuable points in their 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League at the Estadio do Dragao.
Scholes admitted that United had a “tough” encounter with Porto last week and the Red Devils were “under a lot of pressure” going into the Villa clash.
“It’s a point for United, going to a tough ground under a lot of pressure,” he said on SuperSport after the match.
“I never really felt like they went there to try and win the game. It was more of a survival tactic more than anything.
“But from everything we’ve said before the game, United were quite tough to play against today and you have to take into account the midweek fixtures.
“Villa had a big lift from Bayern Munich, winning that game, big atmosphere and they struggled to really live up [to] that today. You could see they probably suffered a bit.
“For Manchester United, it’s difficult to go away in Europe on Thursday night and it was a tough game against Porto with 10 men for some of the game, so I think the game probably reflected the midweek that both clubs had.”
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