"I have to be clear. Only 100%," said Ten Hag after the 1-1 draw with FC Twente in the Europa League. If the Dutchman was hoping for a response from his players, it never came. 100%? Ten Hag got half that.
Against Tottenham, the "Red Devils" played much worse than when they drew with Twente in the middle of the week.
A cursory glance at the scoreline suggests the game hinged on Bruno Fernandes’ red card just before half-time. However, that would ignore that Tottenham were the better team for 42 minutes when the two teams were level on numbers. At times it felt like Tottenham had more than 11 men, while the only Man United player on the pitch was goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Spurs took an early 1-0 lead through Brennan Johnson before Fernandes was sent off. The only surprise was that the score remained the same at half-time. Ange Postecoglou was left bemoaning missed chances time and again, while United’s players seemed determined to produce a performance that would see their manager sacked.
Ten Hag likes to point to last season's FA Cup final win as evidence of what he can do, but the truth is, similar disastrous performances against Spurs are more common.
"What I saw in the first 30 minutes was below what we can expect from a team like Manchester United. Even when you concede so early, you have to be calm, you have to be united and stick to the plan. Then you have a place in the game and we didn't do that," Ten Hag said after the match.
The list of United’s mistakes is so long it’s hard to know where to start. They frequently gave the ball away, lost duels all over the pitch and ignored the opposition’s wingers.
Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho let Micky van de Ven steal the ball unchallenged, before the centre-back ran half the length of the pitch in a straight line as if there was no one there.
Johnson, after receiving a pass from Van de Ven, was also unmarked in the penalty area and easily scored. This was almost a copy of the goal that Twente scored 4 days earlier.
Meanwhile, Fernandes slipped but still stuck out his leg to block Maddison. This was the incident that led to the referee immediately showing the Portuguese midfielder a red card and sending him off. To make matters worse, Kobbie Mainoo had to limp off the pitch with an injury shortly afterwards.
In such a game, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke scored more goals for Spurs. Man United actually had a short period of resistance but it was not enough.
Spurs have never won away from home so easily. They have only won three away games since November 2023 but left Old Trafford with a shower of joy. Postecoglou's post-match assessment highlighted everything United lacked.
"We showed real belief in our game. Determination at all times, with and without the ball," said the Australian.
After such a disastrous defeat, the obvious question is how long Ten Hag will last? As for Man United fans, many left Old Trafford at 0-3.
