Alsharq Tribune -Telegraph
. It is finally feeling like the endgame for Erik ten Hag. Out-fought, out-thought, out-run, out-played and, maybe, out of here. Manchester United were humiliated at home by Tottenham Hotspur and once more the manager is under severe pressure. Can he survive? Not if this game is presented as any kind of evidence. Ten Hag will argue that his team had to play most of it with just 10 men after a foolish but probably harsh red card for captain Bruno Fernandes but that is weak mitigation. United also lost Kobbie Mainoo to injury, and later Mason Mount after a clash of heads, but that is no excuse, either. They were terrible after the dismissal, apart from a flash of resistance when the game was over, and terrible before it as an utterly dominant Tottenham, with James Maddison and the outstanding Dejan Kulusevski controlling the game, simply ran all over them. United face Porto away in the Europa League on Thursday and are then away to Aston Villa next Sunday – with Fernandes serving a potential three-match ban – before the international break. Certainly, it looks like it will be difficult for them to get anything out of either fixture if they play like this. That will test the resolve of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, now the controllers of the club, as to whether they want to keep faith with Ten Hag who they considered sacking in the summer before triggering the extension in his contract. Damningly there are simply no signs of progress and how can that be acceptable by any measure? Ten Hag can argue all he likes about needing time, about this being a young team, about winning cups but this is his third season and – if anything – they are going backwards. What type of team – and it is his team with his players and only Luke Shaw missing - is he trying to produce? What style of football is he demanding? These questions need to be asked by Ineos and asked now. As does the lack of desire. After the draw last Wednesday against Twente, Christian Eriksen suggested the Dutch side wanted it more. It was the same with Spurs. They wanted it more and how can a United side be pinned in their own half as happened here from kick-off? Sometimes the only answer to relieve the situation is to change the manager. That debate will be happening around Ten Hag. Ineos also need to look at themselves. Three of their big summer signings – Joshua Zirkzee, Noussair Mazraoui and, in particular, Manuel Ugarte – were poor. Really poor. So either the players are not good enough or not being coached well enough. Ugarte was targeted by Spurs every time he was in possession, and that said it all. He does not appear to be comfortable on the ball and Paris St-Germain must be delighted with the potential £50 million fee they will eventually receive. From United there was no intensity, no pressing, no passing, no belief, no leadership and precious little plan. Players jogged around, heads down, abdicating responsibility. It was a shambles. Ten Hag talked about the possibility of a comeback – with Alejandro Garnacho striking the outside of the post – but he sounded like a man howling at the moon. There was a chance for Zirkzee but there was an avalanche of opportunities for Spurs who also hit the goal-frame and spurned three clear one-on-ones – two from Timo Werner. Their xG – expected goals – was 4.67; they created nine big chances. There can be no doubt as to who deserved to win. It means United have lost three of their six Premier League games, winning just two as they now languish in 12th place – already six points off the European places. The only real defiance came from their fans even though many streamed away before the end and after Spurs’ third goal. And to think Spurs, who had played late on Thursday night after their Europa League tie was delayed, came into this encounter themselves under scrutiny and without their injured captain Son Heung-min. There were brief signs of a United rally but even after that Spurs scored a third goal and Dominic Solanke’s close-range strike – prodding the ball home after Lucas Bergvall’s corner was nodded on by Pape Sarr, with their first touches after coming on – was far too easy. It summed up United’s mess. As did the first two goals as Brennan Johnson scored for the fourth game in a row after Micky van de Ven ran from his own half with no fewer than four United players failing to stop him. It was thrilling from Van de Ven but appalling from United. No way would Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenal concede such a soft goal. Spurs doubled their advantage early in the second-half as United were once more far too weak and Johnson’s cross deflected up off Matthijs de Ligt for Kulusevski to guide his volley beyond André Onana (who was easily the home team’s best player). By then Fernandes was off, having slipped as he challenged Maddison but still leaving his leg high, deliberately taking down the Spurs midfielder. Maybe it was a tough call but Fernandes did not have to do it and can only have himself to blame. He later said he had let his team-mates down. He did. But they also let themselves down. And the club. And the fans and – probably the manager. But Ten Hag has to shoulder the majority of the blame. “The team showed a lot of character, a lot of resilience, a lot of fight. They tried. It wasn’t easy,” Fernandes argued. He must have been watching a different game as for the eighth time in 28 games United conceded three goals – having also lost 3-0 in their last league game at Old Trafford against Liverpool. But the fact is the scoreline flattered them. And that is the most damning comment of all.
