Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off as his side lost 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou looked on throughout from his technical area, which at Old Trafford is further away from the dugouts than is usually the case, and saw his team open the scoring following a buccaneering run from Micky Van de Ven to set up Brennan Johnson in just the third minute of the game.
In truth, Spurs should have scored more in the first half. It looked like it was setting up to be a game where the dominant team would later be made to rue their missed opportunities, but the sending-off just before halftime narrowed the chances of that narrative playing out.
Fernandes slipped as he tried to tackle James Maddison and, in his desperation to still make a challenge, clumsily caught the Spurs midfielder high on his leg.
It was not a controversial decision, but Fernandes was maybe unlucky to lose his footing as he did.
There were boos in Old Trafford as the halftime whistle went, and though some of those were for referee Christopher Kavanagh, there had been general disappointment from the stands about the way their team played in the opening 45 minutes.
Spurs had also dominated the game when it was 11 versus 11, having 61% possession even before the red card to Fernandes.
With a man extra, the visiting team looked to turn the screw. Just two minutes into the second half, Tottenham doubled its lead.
Ten Hag had replaced his center-forward Joshua Zirkzee with defensive midfielder Casemiro at halftime, presumably in an attempt to shut up shop and try to nick a goal on the break, but Spurs’s second goal, from Dejan Kulusevski, left this looking even more unlikely.
It looked like United had nowhere to go, but it found something from somewhere and Old Trafford really got behind the team for a spell of the game from around the hour mark. It looked like they might well nick a goal after all.
Casemiro came closest, sending a shot just wide from Lisandro Martinez’s lofted pass over the Spurs defence.
Though they had voiced their discontent at halftime, the United fans cannot be accused of abandoning their team. Quite the opposite, in fact, as they tried to rouse the players against the odds.
But when Dominic Solanke added Spurs’ third on 78 minutes, the stands began to empty as the rain poured down.
Spurs fans celebrated in the corner of Old Trafford that houses the away supporters, having had a good view of both second-half goals at that end.
Solanke had a chance to make it four in the 90th minute but his shot was saved by Andre Onana, and substitute Mikey Moore sent a shot from distance just past the far post.
The scoreline could have been much more embarrassing for United if not for Onana, who saved two attempts from Timo Werner when the Spurs forward was through on goal.
"We were outstanding," Postecoglou said of his players after the game. "There was a belief and conviction in our football today.
"We were really aggressive with everything with and without the ball, and a fantastic all round performance."
United remain in the bottom half of the table, dropping to 12th below Brentford, while, Tottenham will be looking up the table once again.