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Louise Thomas
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Jonny Evans says Manchester United’s players are sticking together and fighting as they look to overcome a difficult spell that has increased speculation over Erik ten Hag’s future.
Sunday’s battling 0-0 draw at high-flying Aston Villa meant the Red Devils stumbled into the international break without a win in five matches in all competitions.
United have mustered just three victories all season and an eight-point haul from their opening seven league games is the club’s lowest tally at this stage of a campaign since collecting seven in 1989-90.
Manager Ten Hag is under immense scrutiny but still believes he has the backing of the club hierarchy, who are set to meet for a pre-planned monthly meeting on Tuesday.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was at Old Trafford for meetings on Monday. The PA news agency understands that was a scheduled visit, with Joel Glazer also present to attend the quarterly Fans’ Advisory Board meeting.
Experienced centre-back Evans – a surprise starter on Sunday who was named man of the match – admits speculation “does affect the players”, but underlined the importance of unity.
“As a player you know what you’ve got to do,” the 36-year-old academy graduate said after the draw. “We’ve all been playing football for a long time.
“For us it’s about not giving in, sticking together. My experience is that you always show that on the pitch and it was pleasing we did that today.”
The stalemate at Villa Park came a week on from the alarming 3-0 home collapse to Tottenham, which was compounded by blowing a two-goal lead at Porto before scraping a 3-3 draw.
United showed spirit to level at the death in Portugal and their togetherness was visible in Birmingham, both during the game and in a pre-match huddle.
“I don’t know who organised that,” Evans said. “It wasn’t planned so I’m guessing it was Bruno (Fernandes).
“I’m sure Bruno, if he organised it, it was a way to get a message across before we went on the pitch. I’ve been involved in huddles in the past and it’s a way to come together before you go out and play.”
Sunday was far from a thrilling contest but United were organised and went close to scoring as skipper Fernandes’ free-kick rattled the bar.
Villa’s biggest chance came in stoppage time when Diogo Dalot blocked Jaden Philogene’s effort, epitomising the spirit Evans spoke of.
But defensive solidity has yet to be matched with attacking prowess, with only promoted Southampton having found the net on fewer occasions than United in the Premier League so far.
“We put a lot into our defending today,” Evans said when asked about their paltry five-goal return. “We saw our two forwards working back and helping the team, in order to get that clean sheet you’re going to maybe sacrifice a bit. For us it’s finding that balance.
“The confidence we get from that clean sheet hopefully in turn that can give us the belief when we’re going forward.
“Sometimes you have to do that, grind it out, go back to basics and we did that today.”
As for Villa, Unai Emery’s side seemed to be exhausted by Wednesday’s marvellous Champions League win against Bayern Munich.
Matty Cash was disappointed not to mark his first appearance since sustaining a hamstring injury in August with a win, but pleased to be heading into October’s international break in fifth spot.
“I wouldn’t say we’re happy (with a point),” the right-back told VillaTV. “As I say, the demands of every match we go into at home, we want to win, we make sure we try to do everything we can to get that result.
“But, obviously, you’ve got to respect Manchester United, they’re a good team with world-class players.
“I think we had moments in the game where we could have put it to bed.
“It’s a point, you have to move on, we’ve got a little break now and we go again against Fulham.”
