MANCHESTER, England — Apparently, Manchester United’s players didn’t read manager Erik ten Hag’s programme notes before their miserable 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
“I must be clear,” wrote the Dutchman. “Only 100% will do.”
It was a demand made in response to Christian Eriksen saying after the 1-1 draw with FC Twente on Wednesday that their opponents “wanted it more.” But if Ten Hag hoped to elicit a response from his players then it never materialised. 100%? He barely got half that.
United were worse against Tottenham than they were against Twente. Much worse.
A casual look at the scoreline might suggest the game hinged on Bruno Fernandes’ red card just before half-time. That, though, would ignore that Tottenham were by far the better team for the 42 minutes that it remained 11 vs. 11. Indeed, at times it felt like Tottenham had 12 men while the only United player who turned up at all was goalkeeper André Onana.
Spurs were already 1-0 up thanks to Brennan Johnson’s early goal inside three minutes by the time Fernandes was sent off. The only surprise was that it remained that way until half-time. Ange Postecoglou spent most of the first half on the touchline with his hands on his head as chance after chance went begging. He didn’t need to worry. Most of United’s players seemed determined to produce the kind of display that gets managers the sack.
Ten Hag likes to point to last season’s FA Cup final win over Manchester City as evidence of what he can get out of his team. But they’ve also been capable of days like this throughout his time in charge. In a packed field of disastrous performances, this was one of the worst.
“What I saw in the first 30 minutes is below the level of what we can expect from a Manchester United team,” Ten Hag said afterward. “Even when you concede so early you should stay calm and just stick together and stick to the plan. Then you would have a foothold in the game but we didn’t have this.”
United’s collective list of offences was so long that it’s difficult to know where to start: Players in red gave the ball away regularly, lost duels all over the pitch, and didn’t track runners.
Inside three minutes, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho let Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven pinch the ball unopposed before the centre-back sprinted over half the length of the pitch in the straight line like a dad who had joined a children’s game.
In keeping with the decision to let Van de Ven run like Forrest Gump unchecked, United also decided Johnson didn’t need to be marked inside the six-yard box and he tapped in at the back post. A marauding run through United’s soft centre and a relatively simple finish, it was almost a carbon copy of the goal Twente scored four days earlier.
If Ten Hag’s prematch rallying cry didn’t act as a wake-up call, neither did the Spurs goal. Onana made saves from James Maddison and Timo Werner. In between, Johnson hit the post. Then it went from bad to worse.
Fernandes slipped as he tried to close down Maddison and flung out a leg. It ended up looking high and reckless and VAR Peter Bankes stuck with Chris Kavanagh’s on-field decision to show a straight red card. To compound the problem, Kobbie Mainoo limped off with an injury soon after.
Ten Hag’s response was to throw on defensive midfielder Casemiro at half-time, but there was another setback barely two minutes after the restart. The Brazil international lost a 50-50 challenge on the halfway line, Lisandro Martínez attempted a wild swipe, and seconds later Dejan Kulusevski had the ball in the net to make it 2-0.
United briefly began to start playing, but it was too late and it wasn’t long before the game was over. Casemiro lost Pape Sarr from a corner and his flick-on was met by Dominic Solanke — again completely unmarked — to score from underneath the crossbar in the 77th minute.
Spurs have never had it so easy away from home. They turned up having recorded just three away league victories since November 2023 and ended the afternoon dancing in front of their fans in the Manchester rain. Postecoglou’s postmatch assessment highlighted everything United were not.
“We showed real belief and conviction in our football,” he said. “Aggressive in everything; with the ball, without the ball.”
With the score at 3-0 and more than 15 minutes to play, the exodus of United fans began. It was a miracle they lasted so long. After such a miserable defeat, the obvious question is how long Ten Hag will last.
There has been some improvement this season, but it’s now just three wins from eight to start the campaign. This week holds tough trips to FC Porto and Aston Villa before the international break and two more performances like this one will crank up the pressure even further.
Much of the goodwill that Ten Hag has built up with fans after winning two trophies is rapidly eroding.
There were scattered boos at full-time, but no show of full mutiny as Ten Hag disappeared down the tunnel. As his new bosses — Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox — sat stoney-faced in the directors’ box, there’s a sense that the manager’s future is on a knife-edge. For now, Ten Hag is battling on.
“We made the decision from a clear review [in the summer] what we have to improve and how we want to construct a squad but we knew it will take some time,” he said. “We need some time. We are all on one page or in one boat together. The ownership, the staff and the players as well. I don’t have a concern.
“There is always a new game, it will be a new day and it is also obvious you have to learn as a team.”