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Boos rang out from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in response to the performance served up by Ange Postecoglou's side.

In a year of false starts and injury crises, the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers encapsulates Spurs' repeated frustrations in one neat package.

The team started with eight first-team players sidelined and inexperienced full-back Archie Gray filling in at center half. Not that Tottenham Hotspur made it through the 90 minutes unscathed, Destiny Udogie was withdrawn through injury, giving the long-ostracised Sergio Reguilon a game.

When the action got underway, it took just seven minutes for them to fall behind to a Hee-Chan Hwang strike. Showing commitment and willingness, the North Londoners rallied and led the game before half-time. A comeback that would have been easier had Heung-Min Son not missed a 43rd-minute penalty.

In the end, the inability to get a decisive third goal was costly, as, with just three minutes of normal time remaining, Jorgen Strand Larsen rifled in an equalizer to share the points.

Not for the first time this season, a sober Ange Postecoglou stood before the cameras postgame and shouldered the blame.

"It hurts me as I'm responsible," he told broadcasters. "When I see how hard the players are trying, it hurts even more. I wanted them to get rewards for their effort. It hurts immensely. It's my responsibility for where we're at right now.

"I'll keep going mate, we've got work to do in getting some help with these players. Our role is to help them perform to their best. I can see how hard they're trying. If we were at our sharpest we'd have got that third and fourth goal, we were inches away.

"We are lacking the dynamic movement we need. Where does Deki [Kulusevski] get the energy from? Dom [Solanke], Sonny. These guys are fighting energy and aren't as sharp as we can be.

"We're dealing with a fair bit and we're not getting a smooth run at anything in terms of getting players back to allow us to freshen up the team. When we get one back, we lose one."

Injuries Not The Only Issue At Spurs

The injury list might be factual, but it doesn't explain all Spurs' woes this season.

Besides, the Australian coach's side has been brittle even when the first-choice lineup has been available.

Take the North London Derby, when a full-strength Tottenham Hotspur took on a depleted Arsenal. They dominated the game but lost because of a goal from a poorly defended corner or the 1-2 defeat by Ipswich Town, where the Premier League new boys punished Spurs for not being clinical.

Too often, a high-risk plan has been miscalculated, and opponents have punished Postecoglou's men. For example, in the 3-4 home loss to Chelsea, a more controlled performance would have seen them capitalize on running into a two-goal lead rather than capitulating.

Some pundits, like Jamie Carragher, have suggested that Ange Postecoglou's front-foot tactics are to blame for the fragility and dropped points.

"To play in that Tottenham defense, the demands to push as high as they do, they do some stupid things," he told Gary Neville's podcast.

"Overcommitting at a point where you've got no chance of actually winning the ball, it's nonsense. It's impossible to high press for a full football match, you can't do that.

"Some decisions are mind-boggling. I wouldn't like to be a defender in that team.

"They ask so much, they are so high, and there is so much space, so you've always got that threat of being picked off. There are things I like, the quality of football is great, but they don't make good decisions.

"I'm asking them to make better decisions. I love getting Tottenham games, I think they are a joy, you always get a great game and it's important you are entertained.

"But they have got to get players back, and then I hope the pressure doesn't build too much. It's a big four or five weeks for Spurs."

Last season was Postecoglou's first, and given that he was implementing a fairly radical new style of play, there was leeway for his side to make some missteps.

He began the campaign with a sense of positivity not seen at Spurs since Mauricio Pocchettino was manager, and his ambition was a refreshing change from the negativity that emanated from Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho during their spells in the hot seat.

Injuries last year were another major reason Spurs' season was derailed, and there is a question as to whether the intensity of Postecoglou's game may increase the risk of players being sidelined.

Statement wins don’t come much bolder than 4-0 away wins over the Premier League champions. Indeed, Tottenham Hotspur’s thumping of Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium was a result that made plenty around English soccer sit up and take note. Even with City struggling so badly right now, Spurs made a profound impact.

James Maddison scored the first two goals in the 4-0 victory, marking his return to the Tottenham lineup after a match on the bench against Ipswich Town. The 28-year-old has faced questions over his future at the North London club recently, but was back to his sparkling best as Spurs dismantled the champions.

There is no doubting Maddison’s ability as a midfield creator. He is inventive with the ball at his feet and carries a goal threat, as demonstrated by the brace he bagged at the Etihad Stadium. Despite this, Maddison has been something of a luxury player for Tottenham in the past. He hasn’t always offered enough defensive fibre for Ange Postecoglou’s system.

Against Manchester City, though, Maddison offered plenty on both sides of the ball. He worked back and stopped the Premier League champions from playing through Tottenham. If Spurs can reintegrate the midfielder it signed from Leicester City for £40m last year, it could take the North London side to the next level.

“[Maddison] was outstanding,” said Postecoglou after the win over Manchester City. “You have to be against City, and Madders was great. He’s gone through a lean spell but I never doubted his ability. I thought the kind of game we were expecting would suit him. I thought we'd need his ability to keep the ball in tight midfield areas. I take it personally on myself if players aren't reaching their level, that’s on me to get him back up there.”

This season has been a peculiar one for Tottenham. While Postecoglou and his players have enjoyed impressive wins over Aston Villa, Manchester City and Manchester United, they have also lost to relegation-threatened Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town. Consistency has so far evaded the North London outfit.

If, however, Maddison can give Spurs an extra dimension in the centre of the pitch, there is still time for this season to turn into a successful one. Tottenham could clamber into the top four places in the Premier League table. Saturday’s away win over Manchester City hinted at the team Tottenham could become.

Panting as he sprinted back towards the Manchester City goal, Ilkay Gundogan gestured towards James Maddison.

Unable to keep up with the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, Gundogan could only watch with anguish as Maddison made it beyond John Stones to guide the ball with his left foot into the bottom corner.

At that stage of the game, Spurs' clinical break felt something of a fluke. It had begun with Radu-Matei Drăgușin's hopeful long ball, which was crafted into a chance by the guile of the exceptional Dejan Kulusevski, who played the inch-perfect pass for Maddison to convert.

However, once the City net rippled, it was as if the Tottenham Hotspur team collectively realized that bypassing their opponent's midfielder was far easier than their minds had let them believe.

White shirts flooded forward in attack after attack, and Gundogan looked every one of his 34 years. Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma repeatedly outmuscled or outpaced him in what became a humiliating 0-4 collapse.

It's unfair to single out the legendary German international as being to blame for Manchester City's current woes. But his floundering presence in the centre of the Etihad pitch is emblematic of the club's struggles.

Gundogan was Pep Guardiola's first signing when he arrived in North West England eight years ago. He is also his most recent addition, having re-signed for the club this summer.

In his defense, when he returned, there was little suggestion he'd be relied upon as Manchester City's first-choice defensive midfielder for most of the season. He reinforced a midfield engine that has had sparse investment in the past five seasons.

The season-ending ACL injury to Rodri has left a gaping hole, which meant that on Saturday evening, Guardiola had to bank on the teenage Rico Lewis, Bernardo Silva, and Gundogan to resist the energetic Spurs midfield.

If City's issues were confined to the area where they were missing Rodri, that would feel manageable.

But as the game reached its conclusion, there was another moment that drove home an equally concerning issue.

Bernardo Silva lost the ball by halfway, and it was played to Timo Werner, who faced down Kyle Walker.

As he had done so many times before with players like Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, the English right-back offered his opponent the opportunity to race.

Usually, the result is that Walker turns on the afterburners and wins the duel.

But against Spurs, Werner showed the Manchester City captain a clean set of heels as Walker pumped his arms and puffed his cheeks.

And like that, the magic trick for foiling counterattacks Guardiola's team has relied on for years is gone.

The question is, how on earth does the Catalan coach address these cracks in the foundations of his team?

A Man With Solutions

There was no getting around the fact that Tottenham Hotspurs win was historic.

The margin of victory, 0-4, which came after four successive defeats, set new records for both Guardiola and Manchester City.

But when he faced down the media, the Catalan coach remained philosophical when faced with the milestones.

"When you lose 4-0 there is not much to say," Guardiola said post game," in eight years we never lived this. I knew sooner or later we would drop.

"I never expected to lose three Premier League games in a row but we have been incredibly consistent again and again and again. Now, we cannot deny the reality that sometimes happens in football and life is here."

Any observer of Guardiola knows that the coach is likely to become more dogmatic in the face of such adversity.

All his successes have been delivered when he's found a new way to control the game, whether with a false nine or a centre-half playing in midfield.

In his postmortem, it was the lack of control he chose to focus on.

"We are a bit fragile right now, that is obvious," he added "We struggled to score goals and after when they arrived they scored.

"We are playing with a little bit of negativity in our thoughts but this is normal. Football is a sense

of mood.

"We were always a consistent team conceding few chances. Our game was about control.

"This is not a team created to do box-to-box 40 times in a game - we are not good at that. We were always a team who conceded few, but now we concede more. I would like there to just be one reason but there are many."

You wouldn't bet against Guardiola finding a solution to this issue; he has demonstrated that he can craft answers to seemingly impossible questions.

But the stark reality is that his tools on some parts of the pitch have never been more limited.

It’s often said that the Premier League table starts to take shape after ten games. That’s not the case this season.

With eleven matches played heading into the November international break, there’s only one point separating Chelsea in third from Aston Villa in ninth.

Over the past five seasons, that gap after eleven games has been an average of 6.4 points.

Further down the table, Manchester United, whose miserable start to the season led to head coach Eric Ten Hag losing his job, are only four points behind Chelsea. Incoming boss Ruben Amorim certainly won’t be writing off this season just yet!

That gap in previous seasons was around ten points.

With almost nothing separating the sides between third and 13th, other factors could be more useful in analyzing where in the table a team might be at Christmas, let alone at the end of the season.

Based on Opta’s statistics for the first ten games, out of the teams from third to 13th, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Brighton and Hove Albion had the toughest fixtures. Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Manchester City had the easiest first ten fixtures.

Given that the next run of fixtures will be roughly opposite as the teams who’ve had easier games will have the hard games coming up, it is likely that Newcastle will rise up the table at the expense of Forest, while Chelsea could emerge as Liverpool’s main title contender if the Blues keep up their early season form.

Expected goals is often criticized as games are won and lost by actual goals, but when the league table is as close as it is, xG does have a role to play in looking at who is overperforming or underperforming.

The current table based on expected goals has Fulham in second place behind Liverpool. Fulham’s strong performance is down to having a solid backline, which has the second-best expected goals against. Currently seventh in the league, Fulham’s xG suggests it could be a season to remember at Craven Cottage, especially if Fulham’s strikers can start converting their chances.

Nottingham Forest’s high position in the table might be partly down to an extremely kind run of fixtures at the start of the season, but the types of goals scored and conceded is positive reading for the Tricky Trees. Forest’s weakness last season was set pieces – the Reds scored just 7 goals and conceded 22 from set plays, but has already managed five set piece goals so far this season, conceding just two. Forest had the most goals from counterattacks last season but has just one counterattack goal this campaign. Expect this number to increase as Forest uses counterattacking tactics against the league’s stronger teams over the coming weeks.

Chelsea’s goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is often seen as a weak link in the team, but based on expected goals, the Blues’ defense would have conceded at least four more goals than it actually has this season, so perhaps Sanchez deserves more credit than he’s been getting. Head coach Enzo Maresca will have to cut down on the number and quality of chances conceded for Chelsea to maintain its strong start to the season.

Spurs are fourth based on the xG table, often coming out on the wrong side of close games this season. Ange Postecoglou’s side has had the second-most shots per game this season, and has conceded the second fewest shots per game, so there is hope for the North London side, although a tough run of fixtures means it’ll be hard for Tottenham to gain much ground before Christmas.

Manchester United’s revival appears to have already started. With a new head coach coming in, it would be meaningless to make predictions based on United’s current statistics, but should United get good results against Ipswich Town and Everton in the next two Premier League games, then the league table will look a lot more positive for the Red side of Manchester.

Dejan Kulusevski shone as brightly as any player on the pitch as Tottenham Hotspur defeated Manchester City to send the English champions crashing out of the Carabao Cup. It was a statement result and performance by the North London side and helped prove Ange Postecoglou is still pointing Spurs in the right direction.

Kulusevski assisted both of Tottenham’s two goals and was a creative force through the centre of the pitch. This has been a common sight at various points this season with the Swedish international back in favour having been a peripheral figure earlier in his Spurs career. Now, Tottenham need Kulusevski for his unique skillset.

Last season, Postecoglou favoured Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr as a pairing in central midfield. This gave Tottenham structure and defensive fibre, but sometimes limited what it could do in a creative and attacking sense. This is what presumably led Postecoglou to look for different solutions in the middle of the pitch.

This season, Postecoglou has shifted into a midfield three with Kulusevski part of the trio. Previously, the 24-year-old has been viewed as a wide player or someone to be deployed in behind a central striker. Now, Kulusevski has responsibilities on both sides of the ball. He is growing with almost every match he is playing this season.

Some criticism came Kulusevski’s way after his underwhelming performance in Tottenham’s recent defeat to Crystal Palace. The 1-0 loss was yet another momentum-halting moment in Spurs’ stop-start season and many supporters pointed the figure at Kulusevski.

Against City just a few days later, though, he was outstanding. Alongside Rodrigo Bentancur and Sarr in the midfield trio, Kulusevski was an effective valve as Tottenham moved from defence into attack with ease throughout the match. Manchester City couldn’t get a grip of him. Kulusevski is learning lessons game-to-game.

“I think Deki is growing but I think that’s kind of where we are as a group,” said Postecoglou. “A lot of them are growing and growing through experiences. I think for Deki at the weekend was another growth period because he got hurt pretty early and wasn’t happy with it. In many respects, he lost a bit of his composure after that and that’s another growth for him.”

Postecoglou is right to point out that Tottenham as a whole is in a development phase at this moment in time. The Australian has instilled a set of principles that he hopes will allow Spurs to continue to build for the future and Kulusevski is a player responding well to the guidance of his manager.

One of the most remarkable features of matchdays at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is how many fans travel to North London for one player.

From the hospitality suites to the nosebleed seats, supporters who travel from overseas to watch Spurs overwhelmingly do so for Heung Min Son.

Wearing cardboard Son face masks and jerseys with his name on the back, the South Korean contingent has become a permanent fixture over the past decade, cheering whenever the forward gets the ball.

Son, the greatest South Korean soccer player ever, was the first star from Asia to win the Premier League Golden Boot and play in the UEFA Champions League final.

Named Asian Football Confederation international player of the year a record four times, not even the trailblazing Park Ji-Sung comes close to the stardom the Tottenham Hotspur striker has achieved.

On the field, his performances for Spurs have been so consistently brilliant that we almost take for granted how good a player he is and how incredibly down-to-earth he is.

Back in South Korea, Son has rightly earned the status of a national hero and wears the lofty honor with admirable modesty.

As former team-mate and friend Moussa Sissoko told the BBC when Son reached 100 goals in the Premier League: "He always finds it easy to laugh and talk with people.

"He tries to motivate everyone. When the dressing room is sad for some reason, he's always there to make you smile again.

"Sometimes you come in after training, or after a game, when you've had a bad moment, and to have someone like him is very important. Sonny is this type of player. If you ask anyone, they'll tell you the same. He's a top man, a top player, a top human being."

He's also incredibly loyal, remaining with Tottenham Hotspur through good and bad moments.

Even when his close pal and foil on the field, Harry Kane, pushed for a move away, Son stayed in a manner that may have been to his detriment when he looks back on his career.

As former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood once said, "No one ever questions his loyalty to Tottenham; no one ever does because he is a humble boy. Long may it continue."

While it is easy to appreciate his dedication as a player, it is harder to quantify his value as an asset to Tottenham Hotspur.

However, a new report by the sports blockchain, Chiliz, revealed the extent Spurs owe Son for putting the club amongst the elite of overseas fanbases.

Son Powered Spurs

Spurs had the sixth-most fans globally, ahead of Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich, according to the 'The Global Fan' report, which surveyed 8,000 soccer fans across the UK, USA, Brazil, South Korea, Nigeria, Japan, Italy, and Turkey.

Unsurprisingly, Tottenham Hotspur's high standing came from the scale of its Son-inspired fandom in South Korea, where a whopping 42% cited the North London side as their favorite team.

Commenting on the research, the club's chief revenue officer, Ryan Norys, said the club had been leaning into the popularity in Asia.

"Regardless of location, it is of paramount importance to us that all fans feel they are part of the Spurs family," he said.

"One region that has truly become a hotbed for our support is South Korea. We're immensely proud of our strong following there, which has grown significantly in recent years.

"Our aim is to build a long-lasting and meaningful relationship with our South Korean supporters to ensure we keep them connected to our club for years and generations to come.

"We have actively engaged with our fans in the region, making multiple trips for preseason tours. These visits have been essential in not just strengthening our fan base but in laying the foundations of a solid support network.

"But it's never just about playing matches - we know fans desire more than that. We've had a clear focus on interacting with the fans, understanding how they connect with football, and tailoring our approach to deepen that connection."

Playing matches is essential, though. As Tottenham Hotspur has visited Asia every summer a preseason tour has been possible with travel restrictions for the past five years.

But what's so interesting about Tottenham Hotspurs' success is that it demonstrates the power of the individual player to win a fanbase.

Although it plays in the most popular league on the planet and has challenged at the top of the division for spells in Son's tenure, nobody would describe it as a particularly glorious period in the club's history. As rival fans relish pointing out, a trophy has yet to arrive at the club in close to 15 years.

An explanation of sorts can be found in the regional differences the Global Fan report uncovered.

Chiliz found that in Asia respondents to the survey cited individual players as a primary reason to support their overseas team, with 58% of South Koreans and half of Japan's fan base stating that's why they'd picked their club.

This trend was demonstrated in Brighton and Hove Albion being ranked the 8th most popular side in Japan, ahead of Manchester City and Chelsea, possibly because it possesses exciting local talent, Karou Mitoma.

The question for Tottenham Hotspur is whether it can maintain this level of support amongst Koreans when Son leaves or retires.

A decade spent in North London has established strong ties with supporters in Asia. Still, it remains to be seen if that will translate into families encouraging their children to follow the club on the other side of the world.

Norys and the rest of the Spurs hierarchy will hope that is the case, but the truth is, we don't know.

Regardless of how long-lasting Tottenham Hotspur's popularity in South Korea is, one thing is abundantly clear: the club would not be in the top ten rankings for any global fan survey were it not for the steadfast loyalty of their continental superstar Son.

There’s no doubt Ange Postecoglou has made Tottenham Hotspur a more entertaining team to watch. The Australian arrived in North London not long after the end of the Antonio Conte era at Spurs with supporters keen to see their side play a dynamic, attack-minded brand of soccer. This is something Postecoglou has achieved.

However, there are growing questions over his ability to deliver the sort of tangible success Tottenham wants. Spurs doesn’t just want to be entertaining - it wants to win titles and trophies. It wants to compete for silverware at the top of English and European soccer, and this is where Postecoglou’s approach is still to be proven.

In essence, Postecoglou wants his teams to take risks. He adopts a high defensive line to facilitate the counter-pressing of the players further forward and takes his chances that this will result on high-percentage opportunities to find the back of the net. Tottenham fans have seen this over the last two seasons.

In some matches, though, that high defensive line has been exposed. There is space in behind for opposition attackers to exploit and this has given Spurs a soft underbelly. Many believe it will be difficult for them to challenge for the biggest prizes until this weakness has been shored up, either through a change of approach or a change of personnel.

Cristian Romero has allowed mistakes to creep into his game. The Argentina international was at fault for Brighton’s winner before the international break, losing Danny Welbeck as he attacked a cross into the box, and this sort of thing has become the norm for the central defender. Postecoglou must find a way to get better out of him.

Set pieces have also been a weakness for Tottenham. Guglielmo Vicario has been targeted for his lack of physicality from corner kicks, but many argue Postecoglou and his coaching staff should be doing a better job of organising his team when defending their own box. Spurs is simply too weak at the back.

Nonetheless, Tottenham has embarked on a long-term project with Postecoglou in charge and the team is still on an upward trajectory in a broad sense. Spurs’ performances this season have been better than the results the team has registered. In many ways, Tottenham should be higher than ninth in the Premier League table. It remains the case, though, that Postecoglou still has a point to prove.

Tottenham Hotspur needed a win to prove its progress under Ange Postecoglou and the North London club got one in the comprehensive 3-0 away victory over Manchester United on Sunday. While most of the post-match focus will be on United and Erik ten Hag, Spurs deserves a lot of credit for the manner of the performance at Old Trafford.

There were standout performers all over the pitch. Dominic Solanke gave Tottenham cutting edge in the attacking third while Micky van de Ven was a colossus in defence, also contributing an incredible solo assist for the first goal of the game. Many, however, would point to Dejan Kulusevski as the best player on the pitch.

Kulusevski has arguably been Tottenham’s best and most consistent player this season. While the Swede previously lacked a clear role in Postecoglou’s team, he has become a central pillar for Tottenham this term. The 24-year-old demonstrated this in the eye-catching win over Manchester United.

Postecoglou has remoulded his midfield this season with Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison now being used in a central trio alongside Kulusevski. Last season, Kulusevski was largely deployed on the right wing, but his role this season has been a central one with the Swede showcasing plenty of quality on both sides of the ball.

Maddison also looks back to his best with Kulusevski sharing some of the creative burden with the England international who was desperately missed when he was sidelined through injury for a lengthy period of last season. The two midfielders compliment each other well with Bentancur behind them as a pace-setter.

“They are both really good intelligent footballers,” Postecoglou said about Kulusevski and Maddison after beating Manchester United. “The way we play suits their characteristics because Maddison does so much damage with the ball and Kulusevski does so much damage with his running. It’s a good balance for us in that attacking third.”

Spurs is still a work-in-progress, but the performances of Postecoglou’s team have been better than the results registered. The Australian coach has made this point several times and now he has the 3-0 win over Manchester United to prove Tottenham is moving forward under his stewardship.

The summer transfer window saw Solanke signed with Tottenham’s other business focusing on signing high-potential youngsters. In Kulusevski, though, Spurs has a player that is now being used in a new way. The Swede is finally proving himself as an important figure for the North London outfit.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has pleaded for more time to revive the club in the aftermath of yet another disappointing performance.

United suffered a humiliating 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday to prompt speculation Ten Hag could soon lose his job.

The defeat left United slumped in 12th place in the Premier League table with just seven points from their first six games, and a goal difference of minus three.

“I am not thinking about this,” Ten Hag replied when asked if the club’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his executives could make a change of manager.

“We all made in the summer the decision to stay together, as an ownership, a leadership group. Also we made the decision from a clear review what we have to improve and how we want to construct a squad. But we knew it will take some time, how the window went, some players late in like Manuel Ugarte.”

“Also we have to make some improvement in organisation, we still have some injuries, we need some time. We are all on one page or in one boat together, the ownership, the staff and the players as well. I don’t have that concern.”

The scoreline was bad, but the performance was even worse from United, who went behind after only three minutes and allowed Tottenham to have 61% possession and 24 shots on goal.

It was only the performance of their goalkeeper Andre Onana that prevented an even worse scoreline for United.

“What I saw in the first 30 minutes is below the level of what we can expect from a Manchester United team and even when you concede so early you should stay calm and just stick together and stick to the plan then you would have a foothold in the game and we didn’t have this.”

"You saw that we were stressful on the ball from that moment on the opening goal. We had too many mistakes. The press was no good in the first half. We conceded some counter-attacks after we countered and we made some very bad decisions when we had a lot of space. It was a bad start to the game.”

“Tottenham were dominant. We couldn't get the right press. We also made mistakes in possession. We couldn't find the spare man, we couldn't pass over the press."

United also had their captain Bruno Fernandes sent off three minutes before half-time for a late tackle on James Maddison. "The referee gave him a red card and I've got my opinion, and I don't think it's a red card,” said Ten Hag.

United must now quickly regroup as they face difficult fixtures away to FC Porto in the Europa League and Aston Villa in the Premier League over the next week.

"It is always a new day,” Ten Hag said. “I told them, just in the dressing room, to come on. Tomorrow is a new day. We definitely have to learn, we have to do things better. We have to be better in the pressing and also better on the ball. There were situations where we could have played better, found the spare man and kept the ball and we didn't, which was so disappointing.”

“I just focus on Porto. We close this game down, deal with it and then we move on. We will turn this around. Tomorrow, we will start all over again. The season is still very young, with many games to play."

Old Trafford was largely empty for the final exchanges of Sunday’s match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The game was long settled before the full time whistle and so many of the home supporters felt they’d seen enough. This is a feeling they have grown accustomed to with Erik ten Hag as United manager.

Ten Hag had to fight to keep his job over the summer. Manchester United finished a lowly eighth in the Premier League table, but victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final hinted at the team’s potential. Nonetheless, ten Hag was made to wait weeks as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS assessed other candidates.

Ultimately, ten Hag was given another opportunity to prove himself, but Manchester United’s dreadful start to the season shows INEOS made the wrong call. Ten Hag should have been replaced in the summer. For all their big talk since entering the club earlier this year, the new leadership botched the biggest decision they have had to make so far.

On the pitch, Manchester United is making the same old mistakes. Ten Hag’s team has no clear identity or structure. At times, United wants to play a chaotic style of play that opens up space and moves from back to front quickly. At other times, it attempts to play a possession-orientated game. It does neither well.

In the past, ten Hag has pointed at the number of injuries to explain Manchester United’s poor performances. It’s certainly true that the Old Trafford team was decimated by injuries for much of last season. Now, though, those injuries have cleared. Ten Hag was able to start a full-strength team in the 3-0 loss to Tottenham.

More than once, ten Hag as pointed to the two trophies Manchester United has won during his time in charge. The reality of modern soccer, however, is that success and failure is judged on league performance and United is grossly underperforming. Ten Hag is running out of excuses to explain away his team’s failures.

INEOS has stated its aim to return Manchester United to the top of English and European soccer, but the club is a long way from that level right now. Ten Hag certainly isn’t the only issue that needs resolving at Old Trafford. There are deep-rooted problems that have been evident for years. Ten Hag, however, might be the easiest issue to solve.