Manchester United fell to a disappointing 3-1 loss at the hands of Aston Villa.
Villa scored their goals through Leon Bailly, Lucas Digne, and Jacob Ramsey.
United’s solitary goal was a Ramsey own goal when the midfielder found himself in no man’s land after Luke Shaw‘s volley hit him and got deflected behind the back of the Villa net.
United was lackluster and had one of their worst performances in recent weeks, which was reminiscent of the derby day drubbing at the Etihad.
In particular, the Red Devils were lacking defensively and saw their mishaps at the back punished by Villa’s ruthless players.
Even in attack, Ten Hag’s men lacked the imagination, creativity, and inventiveness usually brought to the table by the dynamic Bruno Fernandes.
Fernandes was not available for selection after picking up a yellow card against West Ham a week ago.
United’s players seemed to be lacking patience when fashioning chances, which saw them become forceful at times in their creation.
Most of the team’s chance creation was hurried and lacked purpose to it. This manifested itself with constantly hoofing the ball into the box aimlessly with the hope of finding Ronaldo.
This also took place against Real Sociedad.
Ten Hag took issue with this after the game, labeling the practice “stupid.”
The Athletic’s Carl Anka who spoke to the United boss after the thrashing reports, “Asked Ten Hag if the amount of crosses Manchester United attempted in the first half was a deliberate approach to feed Ronaldo.”
His response was, “No, that was stupid.”
Anka adds, “He then described his frustration at United players rushing the cross and not waiting for the right moment.”
