This is the nadir of Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United tenure. A slipshod shambolic mess that Tottenham exploited gleefully, pinging the ball about and punching through their storied hosts as if in a men-v-kids knockabout.
The manager claims to have a plan and on this showing it seems to be based on waving the opposition past on a figurative red carpet as Spurs ran through United endlessly. Towards the end, at 2-0 down, a 10-man United rallied, as Casemiro raided and Alejandro Garnacho darted in: this merely showed what Ten Hag’s charges might have done if they were not an embarrassment to their famous shirt.
By then Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulesevksi had scored and Bruno Fernandes had been sent off, so the captain will miss the next three league games. If the decision appeared harsh, further insult and injury ensued as Lucas Bergvall’s first touch – a corner, from the left – was headed on at the near post by Pape Matar Sarr – his first touch, too – and the unmarked Dominic Solanke touched home.
Ten Hag, drenched in pouring rain, had overseen a duck shoot and this, too, with Ange Postecoglu’s men missing the injured Son Heung-min, who might have given United a six- or seven-nil trouncing.
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United are next at Porto on Thursday, in the Europa League, then travel to Aston Villa on Sunday in this competition. After this utter farrago, the manager desperately needs to win again – preferably in both these game – as it is now this defeat and two draws in his side’s past three outings.
As the jubilant travelling congregation sang “When the Spurs go marching in”, the beleaguered Dutchman ended his afternoon dicing with the territory marked “sacking”.
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Full report to follow