Patrick Dorgu’s stoppage-time finish salvaged a point on Sunday after United had twice come from two goals down. The equaliser from a corner rescued a draw Michael Carrick’s team barely deserved on the balance of play, and did nothing to lift them out of 18th place.
Cunha, one of Carrick’s few consistent performers this season, spoke afterwards with an unusual bluntness for a player of his profile.
“I’m so tired and also disappointed,” the Brazilian told reporters.
“This is a huge club and to feel something like this is not normal.”
Read also: Leeds ‘appalled’ as Jayden Bogle targeted with racist abuse after Tottenham victory
A pattern of reacting too late
Cunha returned to the same point several times. The squad, he said, has a habit of waiting until the scoreboard forces its hand before producing anything resembling fight.
“We showed character after conceding goals. If we had shown that character and courage before, then we will win more games.”
Villa made that pattern look easy to exploit. Alysson scored inside the opening minute and Nicolas Jackson had the lead doubled by the fourth. Bruno Fernandes pulled one back from the spot, Youri Tielemans equalised against his former club on the stroke of half-time, and the game appeared level again. Then John McGinn’s penalty and a Leon Goretzka finish restored Villa’s two-goal cushion within eight minutes of the restart. Joshua Zirkzee’s 90+2′ strike set up a frantic finale before Dorgu levelled four minutes later.
The bleakest start in nearly 40 years
The point left United in the relegation zone with eight points from ten games and eight Premier League matches without a victory.
Read also: Chelsea and Tottenham face PSG and Dortmund competition for €30m defender
The clean-sheet column tells its own story. United have conceded in each of their opening ten league fixtures, the first time the club has gone through the start of a top-flight campaign without a clean sheet in that span since 1986-87.
Carrick, handed the job permanently in May, offered the usual diagnosis.
“We kind of beat ourselves a little bit with the moments really that we’re giving away and goals that we’re giving away in tight clusters that are making it a lot more difficult,” he said.
Carrick’s job in question before Liverpool
The international pause buys United two weeks before the schedule turns hostile again. Carrick’s side travel to Anfield to face Liverpool as their first fixture after the break, with the manager’s future already being discussed openly in the match aftermath.
Read also: Xabi Alonso earns unwanted Chelsea nickname after £276m spending spree
Read also: Unai Emery walks off before full-time after Manchester United’s dramatic Aston Villa comeback
