Ten Hag’s future up in the air after Man U draw

LONDON (AP):

For Erik ten Hag, it’s very simple.

“We are all on board, together, on one page,” the Manchester United manager said of his relationship with the club’s leadership after a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa in the Premier League yesterday.

The next few days will determine whether those above Ten Hag feel the same.

United head into the two-week international break on a five-match winless run in all competitions and languishing in 14th place in the league, having won just two of their opening seven games this campaign.

Ten Hag had arrived at Villa Park under huge pressure and with the club’s minority owner, Jim Ratcliffe, having failed to say he had faith in the Dutch coach when asked specifically on Friday.

However, as creditable as gaining a point at a revitalised Villa is, it might still not be enough for Ten Hag – especially with United’s new leadership having some time to weigh his future before the team’s next game.

“We know what we are working toward – it is a long-term project - and we have to keep improving the process,” Ten Hag said.

Playing in front of Ratcliffe and the rest of United’s hierarchy, the visitors came closest to scoring when Bruno Fernandes struck a free kick against the crossbar in the 68th.

As a whole, Villa mostly dominated a match played four days after beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Still, United dug in, defended well, and earned a draw that followed 3-3 at Porto in the Europa League. It marks a decent response to slumping to a chastening 3-0 home loss to Tottenham last weekend.

TOTTENHAM MELTDOWN

This time, it was Tottenham’s turn to collapse.

Leading 2-0 at halftime, Tottenham conceded three goals in an 18-minute span early in the second half to lose 3-2 at Brighton.

“It is a terrible loss for us – as bad as it gets,” Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said.

Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, and Danny Welbeck were the scorers for Brighton, who were repeatedly pulled apart by Spurs in the first half in the same manner as Chelsea did last week in a 4-2 win over the south-coast team.

Right winger Brennan Johnson – scoring for the sixth straight game in all competitions – and playmaker James Maddison both netted for Tottenham, but some familiar failings at the back were exposed again.

Brighton climbed above Tottenham to sixth place with the win. Spurs dropped to ninth.

In another match, fourth-place Chelsea drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest.