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• Villa draw buys Ten Hag a little time, says Neville

  Gary Neville believes Manchester United bought Erik ten Hag time with their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, but is not sure how much.

  United are winless in their last five games in all competitions, with their stalemate at Villa Park the fourth draw in that run, having also lost 3-0 to Tottenham in their last home match.

  Ten Hag's side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.

  Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.

  Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the "low bar" the team is currently working with.

  "It's a small step forward," Neville told Sky Sports. "Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.

  "That's where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag's interview, there's an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.

  "I don't think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.

  "It's Manchester United's worst start in Premier League history so we can't celebrate. When we're thinking it's a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come - but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time."

  Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club's hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.

  However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).

  While Neville does not think the club will rush into a decision on Ten Hag's future, he admits they might have to if things have not changed by the November international break.

  "The club did make the decision to keep Ten Hag in the summer, so they won't want to reverse that decision within the first six or seven games," Neville added.

  "They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks - through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.

  "Manchester United fans, coaches, players have talked about this new structure that surrounds Ten Hag, it needs to go to work quite quickly in the next few weeks.

  "If the next international break comes around and Manchester United are still in that 13th, 14th position in the league, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure.

  "The next few weeks are critical in making sure they can somehow get some momentum for the rest of the season so that Ten Hag can keep his job."

• Flick keen to avoid Barcelona and Bayern comparisons

  Hansi Flick's Barcelona have made a flying start to the season, but he was reluctant to draw comparisons with his all-conquering Bayern Munich team.

  Barca moved three points clear at the top of LaLiga after Robert Lewandowski's first-half hat-trick helped them to a 3-0 victory over Deportivo Alaves on Sunday. 

  In the league, Barcelona have already scored 28 goals in nine games, more than any other team in the division, and the most of any team across the top five European leagues.

  Flick took interim charge at Bayern midway through the 2019-20 season, guiding them to a treble by winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and the Champions League. 

  However, the manager believes it is too early to compare the two sides. 

  "No, no, I don't like that. This team is different," Flick told reporters.

  "The situation is different. At the moment, things look good. I'm happy to be the coach of this team, but I know that things can change really quickly in football.

  "We value what we have, it's fantastic to see things work... What this team is doing is amazing. The atmosphere in the dressing room is great.

  "It's not just about winning and losing. We analyse matches, that's why we have a very large group of analysts. We want to show the players what we can improve on for the next match."

  Lewandowski's hat-trick was the fourth-earliest ever scored by a Barcelona player in LaLiga (32 minutes), and took his tally up to 10 goals in the competition.

  Flick was full of praise for his striker, who was part of that treble-winning team at Bayern. 

  "Lewandowski is the same player I knew in Munich, and he's the best in the box. What he does is fantastic, he's always ready to score," Flick added.

  "I think we should praise everyone in the team, they're all helping him. He's in good form, and I'm happy to see that. I'm happy for the three points and happy with Lewy's performance.

  "In the first half, we didn't make any mistakes, we didn't allow Alaves to play their game. That was the key to winning."

  The only blemish at the Mendizorrotza Stadium was the injury suffered by forward Ferran Torres, who limped off five minutes into the game.

  "We still don't know what injury Ferran has, but it looks muscular. We'll see with the medical tests tomorrow," Flick said.

  "Ferran's injury is worrying. We don't have many options in attack, but we'll see what happens.

  "We hope to recover the injured players in the international break. We will see in the next two weeks, and we hope they return in good shape."

• Emery: Villa 'missed some energy' in Man Utd stalemate

  Unai Emery believes Aston Villa "missed some energy" during their goalless draw with Manchester United on Sunday.

  The spoils were shared following an underwhelming 90 minutes at Villa Park, where the hosts recorded their second stalemate in as many Premier League games after last weekend's 2-2 draw at Ipswich Town.

  Villa were aiming to build on their memorable Champions League victory over Bayern Munich on Wednesday but only registered a single shot on target courtesy of Youri Tielemans' second-half attempt.

  And Emery believes his side's midweek exploits in Europe took their toll on Sunday.

  "It is not the best result, but it's not the worst," the Villa boss said. "I think a draw is fair.

  "We played the second half much better than the first and, at the end, we were close to winning the match [when Diogo Dalot blocked Jaden Philogene's stoppage-time shot]. We tried to score, but couldn't. 

  "We missed some energy. Maybe it's because we have some players injured, some other players are also still improving."

  It was the first 0-0 draw Villa have played out under Emery at Villa Park since he took over in November 2022. Although they could not achieve the three points, they remain fifth in the Premier League table with 14 points after their opening seven games.

  After opening their Champions League campaign with successive wins, and a Carabao Cup last-16 clash with Crystal Palace coming up later this month, Emery is pleased with the shape his side are in.

  "We are in the process of building a team," he added. "We are managing things better. I am happy. We could be higher in the table, but we are more or less in the top six. I am happy with what we are doing.

  "We are happy in the Champions League and happy, of course, in the Carabao Cup. We're going to play seven matches in the next month. We have to stay competitive like we are now and be demanding."