Pranav Mathur, Pune
Manchester United suffered a devastating loss against Tottenham Hotspurs, going down to them 0-3 on home turf, piling up the pressure on manager Erik Ten Hag. Even with the team’s main striker Son Heung Min out of the side because of an injury, the team seemed to have been well knit, tearing Manchester United’s defence apart.
Brennan Johnson made sure Tottenham asserted their dominance by scoring the first goal within the first four minutes of the whistle, after being given an assist by Micky van de Ven who stormed through with the ball from their side of the court. Manchester United lost their captain Bruno Fernandes with a red card just before the first half ended which left the red devils handicapped for the rest of the match, though they seemed to have been struggling even before becoming a 10-man side.
Tottenham took their lead forward by scoring two minutes into the second half with Dejan Kulusevski finishing smoothly. The final nail in the coffin was when Dominik Solanke, after all his hard work, increased the scoreboard in their favour 12 minutes from the final whistle, causing the Old Trafford, which annoyed the fans to a point that many left the stadium before the match ended.
Erik Ten Hag has now reached that point in his tenure where even one more defeat would make his seat as manager a very uncertain one. After losing to Liverpool and Tottenham in the Premier League on home soil, Ten Hag expressed his disappointment in the team as he feels like they are not giving their 100%. This statement came after the managers from other teams started commenting on United’s recent performances, by saying that their team just wanted to win a lot more than United. Ten Hag has been an advocate of players giving their all, but after taking the last few matches into account, he feels that the team is not giving even half of what he desires. In the post match conference, Ten Hag mentioned that in the first 30 minutes the performance had been much below par, and even though there has been a goal conceded early on in the game, a team like Manchester United is expected to stay calm and composed.
It is now important for the manager of the red devils to figure out where the team is actually going wrong and get back on track, as his tenure of being the manager of this once glorious club might come to an end if this pattern continues.