Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus’ goals sent Manchester United reeling in a 2-0 loss at West Ham on Saturday, adding more pressure to already-fired manager Erik ten Hag.
West Ham’s late goals at the London Stadium completely destroyed Ten Hag’s team, sending them to their eighth Premier League defeat of the year.
United, who are currently in seventh position overall, have only won once in their last seven games across all competitions.
For the first time since 1992, they have lost three of their past four games and failed to score in any of them.
It is yet another cruel blow for Ten Hag, whose increasingly precarious position will undoubtedly be the first to be addressed by Jim Ratcliffe when the British billionaire eventually completes the acquisition of a quarter of the team.
According to reports, Ratcliffe will assume leadership of United’s football operations as part of the agreement with the American owners. When he arrives at Old Trafford, the team is supposedly at one of its lowest points in its storied history.
Ten Hag’s second season has been a complete disaster as they were knocked out of both the League Cup and the Champions League, and now they are out of Europe.
Ten Hag believes United can “change the story” once key players return from injury.
However, this embarrassing loss to a club that Liverpool’s reserves crushed 5-1 on Wednesday in the League Cup quarterfinals highlighted the extent to which United has fallen under the leadership of the troubled Dutchman.
United’s food hygiene rating has been reduced from five to one, as confirmed this week by the local council, following its serving of raw chicken to guests last month.
This season, those associated with United have been left feeling uneasy in addition to the unfortunate diners.
This season, United has dropped 13 games in all competitions, which is a record for most losses before Christmas since 1930–1931—the season they finished last in the standings.
Arresting their steep decline looks beyond Ten Hag at present.
United in disarray
Willy Kambwala, 19, made his United debut in central defense in the absence of Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, and Raphael Varane.
United’s raw French youth was put to the test by West Ham as Emerson approached for a low shot that tested Andre Onana into a save.
Although Marcus Rashford has only scored two goals in the league this season, he was benched for the second straight game, and his absence did little to boost United’s dismal offensive.
Losing their rhythm and self-assurance, Ten Hag’s team struggled to generate any kind of momentum and could not capitalize on their hard-fought draw against Liverpool the previous Saturday.
After Antony’s meek effort was comfortably stopped by Alphonse Areola, it took United more than thirty minutes to generate a shot on goal.
Alejandro Garnacho, one of United’s three young players, had a fantastic chance to end the scoreless draw when he fired a shoddy close-range attempt straight at Areola.
After serving his suspension, Bruno Fernandes, the captain of United, once again displayed his much-maligned recklessness by receiving a booking for swiping at Kudus.
Onana’s excellent tip-over to block Bowen’s header kept United level.
After 56 minutes, Rashford replaced the nameless Rasmus Hojlund, prolonging the Danish striker’s dismal start to his rookie campaign.
When Fernandes mishit a shot high into the bleachers, there were growing murmurs of dissatisfaction among the visiting United supporters.
After a brilliant chip assist from Lucas Paqueta broke the United defense, Bowen timed his move to evade the offside trap and scurried his shot past Onana for his 11th league goal of the season.
Six minutes later, Kudus dealt United the final blow, leaving them in a state of confusion.
Summarizing their poor performance, Kudus sprinted forward to send a low shot past Onana from the edge of the area after Kobbie Mainoo foolishly gave up control.