An old adage suggests you can sense trouble in a club the moment you step into the stadium, and there’s certainly a troubling atmosphere at Old Trafford.
The harsh truth seems to be that Ten Hag remains in charge only because Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford couldn’t find a suitable replacement over the summer. There’s little evidence of improvement or reason to trust in Ten Hag’s leadership.
It wasn’t just that Spurs showcased superior quality and organization; it was more concerning than that. United displayed no coherent structure, lacking both direction and leadership. There’s a complete absence of identity or strategy, and most alarmingly, the players seemed undisciplined and chaotic at times.
Following Fernandes’ red card, Mason Mount entered as a substitute and immediately earned a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Rodrigo Bentancur. Lisandro Martinez also contributed to the chaos by cynically fouling the impressive James Maddison.
If Ten Hag manages to survive this humiliation, the challenges ahead won’t get any easier, with a Europa League match against Porto on Thursday and a trip to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Spurs fans taunted Ten Hag with chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning.” Whether this becomes reality remains to be seen, but the day was undeniably bleak for him—one that felt like it could be the beginning of the end for his tenure at Manchester United.