Ten Hag overtakes Solskjaer with awful record after Man Utd defeat

Erik ten Hag reviews Man Utd's defeat at Man City

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Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has become the first manager in the club’s history to fall 4-0 down at half time on two separate occasions in the Premier League, according to reports. The Dutchman oversaw Sunday’s humiliating 6-3 defeat to fierce rivals Manchester City. And the result has served as a reality check for the 52-year-old, especially with his side previously winning five of their last six matches across all competitions.

After a difficult start to the season, United had started to click prior to the match with City.

However, they were ruthlessly put to the sword at the Etihad Stadium with Pep Guardiola’s team superior in every department as hat-tricks from Erling Haaland and Phil Foden gave the hosts all three points.

United may have won the second half 3-2, with Antony netting and Anthony Martial scoring a brace, but falling 4-0 down at half time was ultimately their undoing.

And The Athletic say that Ten Hag has now become the first manager in United’s history to fall 4-0 down on two separate occasions in the Premier League.

The debacle at the Etihad Stadium came just over a month after they’d fallen 4-0 down against Brentford, in a game where they failed to score any type of consolation.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had previously been the first manager to see their side ship four goals without reply in the top flight, with that happening against Liverpool last season.

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But Ten Hag now has the unfortunate position of holding an even worse record than his predecessor.

United have also joined a list of seven clubs to have twice trailed 4-0 at the interval in the same Premier League season, the publication adds.

Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham, Newcastle, Arsenal and West Brom are the others to suffer the same pain.

And, now, Ten Hag will be hoping to get United back to winning ways when they face Omonia in the Europa League on Thursday night (5.45pm).

Speaking after United’s crushing defeat at the home of their fierce rivals, meanwhile, the Dutchman lamented his side’s ‘lack of fight’.

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“It’s quite simple, it’s a lack of belief,” he said in an interview with Match of the Day.

“When you don’t believe on the pitch then you can’t win games, that is unacceptable.

“We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that’s happened today.

“For me it was a surprise. We were not on the front foot, we were not brave on the ball and there were spaces to play but we were not brave enough.

“All the credit to City, but it’s nothing to do with City, our performance was not good.

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“It had to do with the belief as individuals and as team.

“From the first minute I felt it and at half-time we changed things and we changed attitude.

“We saw a different Manchester United after half-time and we scored goals, we created some more. On the ball we were more brave, we came in the opponent’s half and we scored three goals.

“In this moment I can’t think about positives. We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we’re hugely disappointed.”

Guardiola, meanwhile, admitted he was happy with the result – but criticised his team for shipping late goals at the Etihad.

”It was really good [in the first half]. We scored four goals and could have scored more,” he said.

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“After half-time it was more difficult. It was a great victory, a great game, everyone was happy in the stadium and we enjoy it against our rivals. It was a good afternoon for us.

“In general it was really good how aggressive we were but of course when they have Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen they have quality.

“We were aware of the spaces and our players up front made the difference in the first half.

“We can win or lose but there are many things we can do better. Some players were not good today so they have to improve.

“Perfection doesn’t exist, it’s impossible. But we must try to look there. We did good, we can do better, many, many players had sloppy passes.

“This is not good. We have to be more consistent. In some areas we were still not good.”

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