For Erik ten Hag, a list of dreadful days as Manchester United manager was already rather too long. Quite where this ranks is a moot point, but it was wretched, both shocking and yet familiar. Outclassed by Tottenham Hotspur even before they were outnumbered by them, United again looked an expensive, incoherent mess.
While Ten Hag was serenaded by the Spurs fans with chants of “sacked in the morning”, one of United’s leaders actually did get his marching orders. Bruno Fernandes’ red card was a symptom of United’s problems; passive for too long, they were petulant at times, their attempts to halt Tottenham verging on the desperate, their plans falling apart.
On Thursday, Ten Hag claimed that United had turned a corner. Instead, this season feels a continuation of the last, a campaign that could be littered with ignominies. An eighth defeat in 20 league games at Old Trafford underlines how far they have fallen. United’s new hierarchy can talk of winning the title by 2028 but they are already six points off fifth, in the bottom half and with a negative goal difference.
The table may not lie. Just as Liverpool did last month, Spurs exposed the gulf with rivals. Tottenham have similar immediate aims, of Champions League qualification this season: but whereas United’s looked built on delusion, there seems a realism to theirs.
They have been inconsistent for much of the last 11 months. Aston Villa were the only big-eight opponents Spurs had beaten in 2024. But such an emphatic, excellent win showcased the ambition to Ange Postecoglou’s blueprint. It was his finest afternoon, at least since his heady start last autumn.
His side had assurance in possession, a tactical set-up that always seemed to give them someone in space even before they had a one-man advantage, and a counter-attacking threat. They had the magnificent Micky van de Ven, the classy James Maddison, the outstanding Dejan Kulusevski and the feelgood story of Brennan Johnson’s redemption arc. There were more advertisements for Tottenham’s recruitment policy than United’s on the pitch.
And yet, while there was much for them to savour, the emblematic minute for the hosts came when United contrived to lose two-thirds of their midfield. Fernandes was deservedly dismissed for a lunge at Maddison, directing his studs at the Tottenham midfielder’s knee. The mitigation may have been that the Portuguese slipped, but it was a high challenge with the wrong foot.
He exited along with the hamstrung Kobbie Mainoo. If a makeshift midfield beckons, the one survivor among the starters, Manuel Ugarte, was awful on his first league start, outwitted and outmanoeuvred by Spurs. Mason Mount came on and promptly got booked. Ten Hag sent an SOS to Casemiro at half-time; in fairness, he acquitted himself better than the others. For a while, United looked better with 10 men than 11, though that was another indictment.
By then, however, the game felt over. It was transformed initially by an electric surge from Van de Ven. The Dutchman won the ball from Marcus Rashford in his own half, covered 70 yards at startling speed, leaving four opponents trailing in his wake and centred for Johnson to have a tap-in. Before the Spurs supporters turned their attentions to Ten Hag, he was celebrated in a chorus of “there’s only one Brennan Johnson”. Abused after the North London derby defeat, the Wales winger has responded with four goals in as many games since then. There was almost a fifth, Johnson striking the foot of the post after Tottenham scythed United apart.
The hosts were flattered by a 1-0 scoreline at the break. It soon changed.
Spurs’ lead was doubled when Kulusevski improvised a volley from Johnson’s deflected cross. Dominic Solanke, who scored in a 3-0 win at Old Trafford for Bournemouth last season, added a third, sliding in after Postecoglou’s substitutes combined, Lukas Bergvall’s corner being flicked on by Pape Matar Sarr. Faulted when they concede from set-pieces, Spurs scored from one. There was a rounded element to their game, a creativity to Tottenham to complement the pace of Van de Ven and Timo Werner.
The German started as Spurs were without the injured Son Heung-Min – though by half-time, neither side had their club captain – which perhaps spared United a thrashing. His deputy, the often erratic Werner, was twice denied by Andre Onana, in a combination of unconvincing finishing and fine goalkeeping. The Cameroonian also stopped Solanke from making it four. His was a damage-limitation job but Ten Hag was wounded nonetheless.
There was scant evidence to suggest United were right to keep him in the summer. And perhaps the familiarity of it just illustrated the scale of the malaise.