Manchester United suffered a humiliating 4-0 double! Only Ten Hag's mouth is left fighting, and he is afraid of losing the UEFA Cup

Romy's Manchester United blog

2024-05-07 08:35Posted in Guangdong Sports Creators

Manchester United's 4-0 defeat at Selhurst Park at the feet of Crystal Palace saw the Premier League slip to 8th place, and if they finish the season in this position, the Reds will only be able to participate in the UEFA Cup for the first time unless they win the FA Cup.

Ahead of this game, Manchester United were hit by another injury, with captain Bruno Fernandes and centre-back Harry Maguire joining the huge injury list. Ten Hag will have to continue his cameo role at the back with Casemiro, partnering veteran Evans after returning from injury, with a combination of Kobe Mayno, Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount in midfield. As it turned out, this formation was the equivalent of a wide open goal, and the Crystal Palace players were as easy to get past them as they were on the road at 3am.

Ten Hag deployed the returning Aaron Wan-Bissaka at left wing-back and may be looking to use his defensive prowess to contain Olise, who boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe admires. But he seems to have overlooked the Frenchman's ability to cut inside the middle, who targeted Casemiro's weaknesses to attack.

In less than 15 minutes of the opening period, Olise deceived Casemiro into a tackle with a fake body, and he easily passed "Fat Tiger" to smash the Yellow Dragon, and finally scored with a left-footed push from inside the penalty area, and Crystal Palace opened the scoring 1-0.

Casemiro has been degraded defensively this season, but he can still use his experience to create a threat in attack. He had a header in the back of the net but team-mate Hojlund was disallowed for a run at goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Just before half-time, Mateta got rid of another United centre-back, Evans, before firing a left-footed shot into the net to make it 2-0 and return to the dressing room with a two-goal lead. The goal was a microcosm of United's problems: no midfield, exposed defence, and a "savannah" between defenders and forwards.

Yibian fought again, "Knife Guard" Casemiro tried to attack again, Eriksen crossed a free kick from the right, and the fat tiger's header hit the post and shot into the net, but due to offside, the goal was invalidated again.

Manchester United's defense continued to play a colander with Diogu Darlow falling to the ground and not kicking far, and Mitchell scored easily in the six-yard box with an "own goal" to give Palace a 3-0 lead.

Finally, Muñoz stole Casemiro's cross from the edge of the box and Olise curled a left-footed curling ball into the far corner to score twice in 10 minutes. Crystal Palace won 4-0 and beat Manchester United twice this season on the basis of a 1-0 win away from home in the first leg!

'You're shit,' the Palace home crowd shouted to Ten Hag, 'and you'll be out of class tomorrow morning. The mocked Manchester United boss stood motionless with his hands in his pockets, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

He could set a record of humiliation: it was United's 13th defeat in the Premier League this season, taking his tally to 18 defeats in all competitions, the highest since Dave Sexton took charge in 1977/78. Manchester United are eighth-placed and may miss out on a top-seven finish for the first time since 1990.

But Ten Hag won't be out tomorrow and, in fact, his sharp mouth is still the most combative presence in United's squad. Before this round, he mocked Mourinho from the air, saying that only the Portuguese madman got all the players he wanted.

This is outright nonsense, and it is enough for Mourinho to mention Perisic, Toby Alderweireld and Harry Maguire, not to mention Pogba and Anthony Martial, who have been in the team until the end of their contracts.

Even after the 4-0 defeat, Ten Hag was still in high spirits, scolding the players and referees but not himself, and showed no signs of leaving.

'Am I still the right person to lead Manchester United? Absolutely!' Ten Hag said, 'If the players are fit, we have a good squad. But we lost almost the whole backline, so there was a problem. But I'm going to keep fighting and do everything I can to prepare the team. It wasn't good enough today and I have to take responsibility for it, but I'll find the energy to prepare them for Sunday [against Arsenal]. 」

United have won just once in their last seven games, with Ten Hag insisting the team's current woes stem from injury. "It's clear, obviously, it's a poor performance. We didn't do what we wanted, it wasn't good enough, and we were very disappointed. The fans support us and the team should keep fighting like the fans. But there's always a reason for the poor performance, everyone sees our backline and we have big problems. But at the end of the day, we have to deal with this and we should have done better. 」

Asked again if he was worried about losing his position, Ten Hag reiterated: "I don't think about it. I did my best to prepare the team and we had a lot of questions. My only focus is to perform better with my team, I just want to make the team better. 」

Ten Hag has reason to complain about United's plethora of injuries, particularly in defence, with captain Fernando Fernandes out injured for the first time since his arrival, taking the total number of injured sidelines this season to 64. But defender injuries aren't new, and they're not unsolvable.

Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid suffered serious cruciate ligament injuries to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and centre-back Militão at the beginning of the season, and then the main defender Alaba also suffered a torn ligament, however, the Galaxy finally led by 13 points to win the La Liga title four rounds ahead of schedule.

Taking a step back, even if the injury at the back is serious, that shouldn't affect United's attack. Sadly, the stats show that United dominated possession against Crystal Palace, with 57 per cent of possession, but didn't create many chances.

Palace had 18 shots on goal, 10 on target, while United had just seven shots and just two shots were on target. Palace touched the ball in the United penalty area as many as 36 times, more than double the United penalty area (16). Manchester United had 0.35 expected goals while Crystal Palace had 1.47 and ended up scoring 4.

Ten Hag has no reason to complain about United's squad, as the Reds' starting 11 were worth £404.5 million, seven of whom were signed by the 54-year-old Dutchman himself, and only two of the two academy graduates he promoted were former signings. If Ten Hag has any grievances, it is tantamount to dissatisfaction with his own vision of recruitment.

Of course, the United boss will still express his frustration because he doesn't seem to live in the same space as most people. Many Manchester United fans have already turned into Zhuge Kongming, chanting "I have never seen such a brazen person".

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher had a rare quote that United supporters recognized, telling the Reds' underdog bosses: "Shut up and get off the pitch. 」

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