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1 month ago
16 A trip to Villa Park on Sunday ended in a scoreless draw as pressure eased around Erik ten Hag and his job.
The Manchester United manager could not afford another heavy defeat and they held on to a draw, despite Bruno Fernandes having the best goalscoring effort from a free-kick in the second half.
Only one United player made the BBC team of the week after a battling display, which was an improvement performance wise following our 3-0 defeat against Tottenham a week ago. That was Diogo Dalot who started the game at left-back.
Veteran centre-back Jonny Evans was unlucky to miss out from the selection. The centre-back came into the team as a surprise inclusion and won the Sky Sports Man of the Match award.
Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney made the team selection for BBC Sport. When it came to Dalot’s performance against Villa, Deeney said: “He hasn’t been great this season but he has been very consistent for Manchester United over the last couple of years. Whether he’s at left-back or right-back, he plays really well.
“He helped his team to get a good point at high-flying Aston Villa and a result Manchester United really needed.”
BBC Sport team of the week: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Keane, Dalot; Damsgaard, Kovacic, Gravenberch; Saka, Havertz, Bowen.
Dalot has been asked to play at left-back this season due to Luke Shaw’s injury. It can’t be easy playing on the opposite side, but his performances since the beginning of the campaign have been below par.
There was a clear improvement in Dalot’s display against Villa, though he played as a more traditional full-back rather than the inverted full-back role. He defended in sync with his team-mates and made an important block towards the end, albeit his back was turned to the ball so he didn’t know a lot about it.
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