Manchester United on hold waiting for something to happen | Manchester United

My favorite Benjamin Disraeli story – in a crowded if largely apocryphal realm – comes from a dinner party attended by the then Prime Minister in the late 1870s. War is raging in the Balkans, and with public opinion overwhelmingly in favor of British intervention, the mood at the table is understandably tense. Finally, a guest who can no longer bear the awkward silence bursts out: “Mr. Disraeli, What Are you waiting?”

“At this moment, my lady,” Disraeli replies, “the potatoes.”

During the 0-0 draw at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon, I thought quite a bit about this story, which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about a game that – to an unusual degree – is characterized by waiting. I'm waiting for United to take a goal kick against André Onana. I'm waiting for Onana to decide what to do with the ball. I wait for the ball to land after another rapid release. Waiting for corners, free kicks and substitutions.

Towards the end I had to wait five minutes for referee Robert Jones to change his VAR radio. Waiting for something to happen, the flash of divine privilege that would somehow make all the waiting worth it.

Which of course was never the case. That's the beauty of football, especially league football: it offers no guarantees. Nothing has happen. Their hard work often goes unrewarded. You don't always get what you deserve. Most shots miss the target, most attacks fizzle out, most corners fail, most cup runs fail and statistically speaking, this will almost certainly not be “your year”.

Meanwhile, Manchester United's senior management are clear that this won't be their year either, and not that they had to spend 97 minutes in a Midlands coma to find out. Last month, their chief executive Omar Berrada claimed with a completely straight face that United were aiming for the 2027-28 Premier League title, a goal that somehow seems extremely ambitious and extremely undemanding at the same time.

Erik ten Hag made a similar prediction in his press conference here, addressing questions about United's lack of strength and cohesion with a promise that “one day something will click”. At the moment, United feels like a club caught in a holding pattern, offering comforting visions of the future as an antidote to the mismanagement of the present.

I'm waiting for it to click. Wait because they have, in some way, convinced themselves that waiting has its own intrinsic virtue. Wait because Alex Ferguson has been given time and that is why all United managers must be given time. Wait, because these are serious men, and serious men don't hurry.

Meanwhile, a club stuck in the bottom half of the table needs to approach these games with a certain humility. A point at Aston Villa is an excellent result under the circumstances. Does it tell us much about the Ten Hag team beyond that? Not sure. Villa, perhaps understandably after Bayern Munich's sugar rush last Wednesday evening, were actually quite weak: sluggish in building up play, not creative enough in the United half, the final ball was often woeful.

With that in mind, we must recognize that this United team was a team that was determined above all not to lose. In defence, Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire were reunited in a surprising homage to Leicester City's back line from the 2018/19 season. On the wings, Marcus Rashford and later Antony almost functioned as auxiliary full-backs at times, as they cared more about the threat of Lucas Digne than anything else they could conjure up. Ten Hag's pride in keeping a fourth clean sheet in the league this season was a pretty good gauge of his priorities.

And not as a criticism, but simply as an observation. Slow, laborious and often intermittent improvement is the only way this festering ghost ship will ever recover. Sometimes it works, sometimes you fight for a 0-0 draw away from home, sometimes Rasmus Højlund runs away from the ball like a scared cat the whole game – and sometimes it applies to all three. Patience is an admirable quality. But let's not pretend that it alone will do you any good.

United has a board meeting in London on Tuesday, a scheduled event but described in the media as a “crunch meeting,” “crisis summit,” “ten-hag-sack talks,” etc. If the manager moves on, the decision to offer him a new contract in July may also come under scrutiny after he spent much of the summer undermining what was left of his authority.

The most likely recipe, however, is probably to wait a little longer. A little more commitment to the process. Stay a little more steadfast, keep the focus, stick to the plan, even if that plan has so far resulted in five goals in seven games, 14th place in the table and a central defender pairing straight out of an ITV2 detective drama.

What are you waiting for? At the moment it is not entirely clear.