Bad The Premier League humiliated Manchester United 3-0 at home against Bournemouth on Saturday, increasing the pressure on manager Erik Ten Hag.
Although a victory over Chelsea in the middle of the week had given rise to hope, Ten Hag’s United’s decline this season was made evident by in-form Bournemouth.
The Dutchman, who was watching in the pouring rain at Old Trafford, appeared despondent as his hapless team was thoroughly outplayed and lucky not to lose by a larger margin.
When the final whistle blew, home fans loudly jeered, even though many had long since walked off, and Bournemouth supporters taunted Ten Hag with chants of “You’re dismissed in the morning”.
With United’s fourth league home loss of the year coming up next week against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, there wasn’t much cause for optimism.
“In every game, you have to give it your all, beginning with concentration. Ten Hag remarked, “You get killed when you start like we did.” They are formidable rivals, but we must perform better. I have to own up to my responsibility.
“I recognize that fans are angry and dissatisfied. We should all strive to perform better, and we should demonstrate this in each game rather than having wildly different levels from one to the next.”
To exacerbate the situation for United, captain Bruno Fernandes received his fifth booking of the year and will miss the team’s trip to Liverpool the following weekend due to suspension.
With goals from Marcos Senesi, Philip Billing, and Dominic Solanke, Bournemouth triumphed for the first time ever at Old Trafford and their fourth in five league games.
The South Coast club is currently flourishing under Andoni Iraola’s high-pressing style, and their fears of relegation are quickly fading after a rocky start to the season.
After five minutes, they were ahead thanks to a breakaway from Lewis Cook, who found space in the United defense and squared the ball for Solanke, who finished neatly.
Before the half, Cook again put Solanke through, and this time, he came within a whisker of making it 2-0, but his shot hit the post.
Rasmus Hojlund was brought off the bench to replace Anthony Martial, and that was when United finally started to pose a threat of drawing even in the second half.
Shortly after, shots from Hojlund and Antony were blocked, and Diogo Dalot missed another opportunity by hitting the side netting after passing to Hojlund.
However, United’s defense went completely missing as Bournemouth scored two goals in five minutes, one each from Billing and Senesi, who both scored with thunderous headers after deliveries from Marcus Tavernier.
As Bournemouth searched for more goals, Dango Ouattara appeared to have scored one very late on, but a VAR check disqualified his effort for handball.
The club is now in the relatively safe position of 13th place, despite the fact that Bournemouth’s victory did not please them in the least.
Sixth-place United, having undone all the positive effects of their thrilling victory over Chelsea on Wednesday, is still one step forward and two steps back. Thus far this season, they have dropped 11 of their 23 games across all competitions.