Manchester United make worst start to a season in 35 years

06.10.2024 18:35

Caught Offside

Manchester United had another disappointing result today as they drew 0-0 away to Aston Villa in their Premier League clash at Villa Park.

Erik ten Hag will surely be feeling the pressure as he faced two big games this week after the 3-0 loss at home to Tottenham last weekend, but ended up drawing in both trips to Porto and Aston Villa.

That’s unlikely to quieten down the critics, with Man Utd now officially on their worst run at the start of a new season since all the way back in the 1989/90 campaign, according to football stats specialists Opta Joe in the X post below…

8 – With eight points (W2 D2 L3), this is Manchester United's lowest tally in their opening seven matches of a league season since 1989-90 (7), when they went on to finish 13th under Alex Ferguson – his lowest league finish in charge of the club. Meagre. pic.twitter.com/RF3Z1iBrOo

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 6, 2024

United were up against a good Villa side today, so in a way a draw is no disgrace, but it’s not really what was needed right now, and one has to wonder what it will mean for Ten Hag’s future.

The draw against Porto was also a bit of a shambles from the Red Devils, who went 2-0 up in that game before finding themselves 3-2 down at one point, even if they were still able to rescue a draw.

Is this the end of the road for Erik ten Hag at Man United?

Erik ten Hag at Villa Park (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Stats like the one above show just how badly things are going for Ten Hag at United, even after being given plenty of time and resources to try to turn things around.

It was never going to be easy for the Dutch tactician, but one has to wonder now if there are some better managers out there who could be upgrades on the former Ajax boss now, and who could get more out of this expensively-assembled squad.