Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday piled more pressure on Erik ten Hag’s position as Manchester United manager with a dominant 3-0 win at Old Trafford.
Spurs made a flying start when Brennan Johnson tapped in from Micky van de Ven’s storming run after three minutes.
Tottenham should have added to their lead long before United were reduced to 10 men when captain Bruno Fernandes was shown a straight red card on 42 minutes.
Photo: Reuters
Dejan Kulusevski finally doubled the visitors advantage two minutes into the second half, before Dominic Solanke rounded off the scoring.
Ten Hag began the season under scrutiny after surviving an internal review at the end of last season.
A shock FA Cup final victory over Manchester City was widely credited with saving the former Ajax coach’s job after finishing eighth in the English Premier League last season.
A third defeat in United’s first six league games of the new campaign leaves the Red Devils down in 12th and time surely running out for their beleaguered boss.
United face daunting trips to Porto in the UEFA Europa League and Aston Villa on league duty next weekend, before a two-week international break that clubs often use to implement managerial change. In the earlier match, Villa were held to a 2-2 draw by Ipswich Town in Suffolk.
“I think we will get better and we need some time,” Ten Hag said. “We are all on one page, in the same boat, together, ownership, leadership group, staff and players.”
Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou was himself under pressure just over a week ago, but Spurs have won four games in 12 days and turned in arguably their best performance of the Australian’s reign.
“Outstanding,” Postecoglou said. “I thought we showed real belief and conviction. We were aggressive with and without the ball. A fantastic all-round performance.”
Van de Ven’s stunning surge from well inside his own half to the United by-line set the tone as his cross left Johnson a simple task to score for the fourth straight game.
“What I saw in first 30 minutes is below the level we can expect from a Manchester United team,” Ten Hag said. “The players got very stressed after conceding so quick and they made bad decisions.”
Tottenham were without injured captain Son Heung-min and missed the South Korean’s clinical finishing as they tried to kill the game off.
Andre Onana saved one-on-ones from James Maddison and Timo Werner, while Johnson smashed another effort off the post.
At the other end, Joshua Zirzkee had United’s best chance to equalize when he was denied by a brilliant low save by Guglielmo Vicario.
Any hope of a United fightback was killed off by a moment of madness from their skipper.
Fernandes slipped as he slid into a challenge with Maddison, but raised his studs to catch the England international.
Ten Hag responded by sacrificing his only striker Zirkzee for the much-criticized Casemiro at halftime. The Brazilian was one of those at fault for the second Tottenham goal.
Solanke outmuscled Casemiro to send Johnson tearing down the right and his deflected cross was cleverly flicked beyond Onana by Kulusevski.
Thereafter the 10 men showed plenty of fight and Casemiro came close to halving United’s deficit, but more calamitous defending allowed Solanke to slide in Tottenham’s third from a corner.
Solanke should have rubbed salt into United wounds when Onana saved another one-on-one in stoppage-time.
The traveling support taunted Ten Hag with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” during the second half.
United’s new leadership team handed the Dutchman an extension to his contract less than three months ago. How quickly they backtrack on that decision now appears a matter of time.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS