Manchester United were dealt a reality check in their pre-season friendly against Aston Villa on Saturday.

It had been all sunshine and rainbows for the Red Devils prior to their clash with the Villans as they transitioned into the Erik ten Hag era with wins over Liverpool, Melbourne Victory and Crystal Palace.

With 11 goals scored across the three triumphs and some impressive football delivered along the way, we were all guilty of getting a little overexcited about United's new lease of life under Ten Hag.

Man Utd 2-2 Aston Villa

And while drawing 2-2 with Villa in a match that ultimately means nothing doesn't eradicate all that exhilaration, there's no denying that it pumped the brakes on the hype train nevertheless.

Goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford had given the Old Trafford club a 2-0 lead at half-time in Perth, before Leon Bailey and Callum Chambers struck after the break to ensure that the spoils were shared.

However, it was the nature in which United capitulated that was most frustrating for Ten Hag with their weakest performance of his reign to date best summed up by David de Gea's woeful goalkeeping for Villa's equaliser.

According to Goal, Ten Hag lamented after the game: "It's not possible that you go 2-0 and then throw it away. That's what I just said in the dressing room, a drop of focus is unacceptable."

So, why is it that there's trouble in paradise? Well, one of the reasons is that United are still, understandably, adapting to the requirements of 'Ten Hag Ball', which was painfully apparent at times during the Villa draw.

Ten Hag's RONALDO Disaster & Let Down (Football Terrace)

Tactical analysis of Man Utd's press

And the ways in which that proved costly for Ten Hag's men have been brilliantly illustrated by YouTuber 'Football Made Simple', who is one of the best in the business at producing tactical analysis videos.

On the back of United's draw with Villa, they released a fascinating six-minute video asking the critical question: "What's Wrong With Manchester United's Press?"

In the process of answering that very question, the YouTuber was able to unpack a lot of the things that United didn't do well enough against Villa and what they need to address to better adopt Ten Hag's style going forward.

And given how much the Red Devils had struggled to press before Ten Hag even came through the door when Ralf Rangnick was in charge, it feels like an extremely pertinent discussion about the squad's sensibilities right now.

So, be sure to watch the video in its entirety for the full breakdown of what's going wrong with United's press, but also keep scrolling to check out our main takeaways from the analysis video.

How Man Utd's press failed

The positives? Well, United's adoption of a compact 4-1-4-1 formation was able to smother Villa's aspirations of creating midfield overloads, while also teeing up quick transitions to utilise Anthony Martial on the counterattack.

However, 'Football Made Simple' pointed out that United's use of the press, which Ten Hag is renowned for, was actually their biggest weakness defensively against Steven Gerrard's men.

Due to United's midfield sitting deeper in order to avoid an overload against Villa's packed central areas, the responsibility of pressing goal-kicks often fell upon Sancho and Rashford.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - JULY 23: Jadon Sancho of Manchester United celebrates with team mates after scoring a goal during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Optus Stadium on July 23, 2022 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)

But because they weren't quick enough in applying pressure, it often meant that the centre-backs would receive the ball in settled possession and could then negate the press by passing out wide to the full-backs.

This, in turn, would cause a chain reaction that pulled Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot into the press, thus drawing them out of position and leaving wide spaces in behind that Villa could exploit.

Nevertheless, one way in which United tried to make their lives easier and create compact situations to suffocate Villa was by trying to shepherd them towards either side of the pitch during open play.

This would be dictated by the way that Martial would initiate the press and could have been an effective approach for United to stifle Villa's build-up play.

However, Sancho was simply too slow at pressing Villa's extra man in midfield on the opposite side to the press, meaning that Gerrard's men were often able to escape this lop-sided approach by finding the spare player.

From there, they could break free and charge up the pitch.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 19: Jadon Sancho of Manchester United in action during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 19, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

A lot of work for Ten Hag to do

So, the moral of the story is that United had all the right tools to launch an effective press against Villa, but Rashford and Sancho in particular simply weren't quick enough to nip their opponents' passing from the back in the bud from the very start.

It's a familiar tale for the Old Trafford faithful who have watched their team fail to press effectively time and time again in 2022 with these latest findings just going to show each and every player must be executing it decisively from top to bottom in order to succeed.

We're still a long way away from seeing United well and truly nailing 'Ten Hag Ball', that's for sure.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 15: Erik ten Hag, head coach of Manchester United is seen ahead of the Pre-Season friendly match between Melbourne Victory and Manchester United at Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 15, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)