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Manchester United suffered a disastrous 0-3 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday, a second successive league home defeat with the same scoreline after their horror show against Liverpool earlier.
Things went wrong right from the start, with the visitors pressing relentless straight from kick-off while the hosts looked lethargic and slow.
They were made to pay as Brennan Johnson opened the scoring with almost all the defenders caught out with Lisandro Martinez nowhere in the frame.
Spurs were by far the better team and were all over the Red Devils and could have scored a lot more goals if not for Andre Onana’s heroics.
Lisandro has been poor all season
Things went from bad to worse when Bruno Fernandes was shown a direct red while Kobbie Mainoo suffered an injury and it looked like an uphill task for the hosts in the second half.
And again, they started without any clear gameplan in mind with the Argentina international once again at fault as he tried to win the ball near the halfway line but lost out.
Dejan Kulusevski eventually scored the second from that very chance before Dominic Solanke made the result sure in the 77th minute.
Owing to United’s poor start to the season, a lot of media focus has been put on the manager and his skipper’s poor form but the Argentine’s drop-off is another concern for Erik ten Hag.
On Sunday, apart from the mistake that led to the second goal, the World Cup winner’s passing went astray as well with Martinez ending the game with an 88 percent passing accuracy. Only 56 percent of his long balls found a teammate.
Defensively he looked vulnerable, making 0 tackles and winning only 20% of his ground duels and 67% of his aerial duels. He also was forced to commit two fouls and saw yellow for a bad tackle in the second half (all stats via fotmob).
Let his manager down
After conceding thrice, Ten Hag decided to push the Argentina international into midfield and he had four shots and created one chance. He also had three touches in the opposition box while making seven passes into the final third. But by that time, it was too little too late.
Ten Hag needed his former Ajax protege to be in top form during a difficult moment for him but the 26-year-old has let him down. He was seen apologising to the crowd after the full-time whistle but that will do little to lift spirits.
After another disastrous start to the season, it is high time INEOS pull the plug on the manager and try and rectify the situation with the 20-time English league champions only four points above the drop zone.
And Martinez needs to get his act together or the new coach might not keep selecting him, whenever the change is made.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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2024-09-29 19:28:19
