The pressure has heaped even further on Erik ten Hag following Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham.
Both Ten Hag and his opposite number Ange Postecoglou have been feeling the heat, with both clubs suffering a poor end to last season followed by iffy results at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign.
But Spurs produced an authoritative display at Old Trafford and were well worth their early lead, courtesy of an exceptional assist from centre-back Micky van de Ven for Brennan Johnson.
The away side continued to dominate, squandering chances, before Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on James Maddison.
“It is not as bad as I initially thought, but it sums up Man United first half which has been an absolute disgrace,” former Manchester United defender Gary Neville fumed from the Old Trafford commentary gantry following Fernandes’ first-half dismissal.
“It’s one of the worst performances I have seen under Ten Hag – and that is saying something. It is really bad.
“United have all the bodies back there, but they may as well be statues or mannequins It has been as bad as it gets – no urgency, no life in them.
“Tottenham are just cutting through at will. Manchester United in this first half-hour are really bad. The crowd aren’t engaged at all.”
Things didn’t get any better from there. Ten Hag responded to the red card with a couple of substitutions, bringing on Mason Mount and Casemiro for Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee, but they didn’t have the desired effect in stemming Spurs’ dominance.
The visitors doubled their lead early in the second half, with Johnson turning provider to tee up Dejan Kulusevski, while Timo Werner fluffed a couple of presentable one-on-ones to get on the scoresheet himself.
Manchester United actually responded fairly well to the second goal, themselves enjoying a period of dominance and creating a number of half-chances, before Dominic Solanke put the result beyond doubt by heading home a flicked-on corner.
Spurs then squandered further chances in the closing stages, leading Neville to assess it could have been six.
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Here are 10 unbelievable stats from Tottenham’s big win over Manchester United:
– This was Bruno Fernandes’ first-ever red card for Manchester United, in his 241st appearance for the club, and the first straight red of his career. His last sending off came in a 1-1 draw between Sporting Lisbon and Boavista back in September 2019.
– Micky van de Ven began his run in his own half, eventually making it to close to the byline before squaring it for Johnson to slot home. We don’t have any exact measurement of his distance run, but according to this chart from Opta it must have been at least 55 yards – based on the Old Trafford pitch’s length of 115 yards.
– Throughout the 90 minutes, Tottenham accumulated an xG of 4.67 according to Opta. That’s the highest xG that the Red Devils have ever faced at Old Trafford. It’s also the most xG Tottenham have ever had in a single Premier League game on record.
– To put that xG figure into further context, Tottenham have created a higher xG at Old Trafford this season than Man Utd have.
– Man Utd faced a higher xG against Tottenham than they did when they lost 7-0 to Liverpool in March 2023 (2.91 xG).
– Dejan Kulusevski created nine chances against United. That’s more than Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee, Kobbie Mainoo, Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui combined. It’s also the most chances that any Premier League player has completed in a single game this season.
– Tottenham created seven big chances against Ten Hag’s side – that’s the most ‘big chances’ that the Red Devils have conceded in any game in 2024-25.
– Ange Postecoglou’s side created the biggest xG of any Premier League away side since Manchester City beat Norwich City 4-0 back in February 2022.
– To rub salt into the wounds, United have now lost more Premier League matches by three or more goals since Alex Ferguson left the club (23 in 424 games) than they did in 1,035 league games under the Scotsman (22). It’s also the 23rd time that United have conceded three or more goals in Ten Hag’s tenure.
– Since Ten Hag was appointed at Old Trafford, the club have averaged 1.73 points per game. That’s the exact same record that Newcastle and Aston Villa have managed in that same time period. It’s also a far inferior record to the likes of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool.