by Shocking, shameful, spineless. Choose your adjective as almost any will do. Manchester United’s 11th win of the season was the culmination of an increasingly bewildering campaign, presented to a sharper, hungrier and better Bournemouth.
As the boos shouted out at the final whistle, Erik ten Hag walked onto the pitch and stood there, face like thunder. This is not a team that can be trusted to start a game right, let alone wake themselves up every three days and this is the latest damning evidence of that.
Ten Hag’s only small lie of comfort the other day was when his players failed to rally and progressed with ease – conceding at least three in the game for the ninth time this term this – is that Bayern Munich were just as bad.
A 5-1 hammering of Eintracht Frankfurt may give the United manager a boost as he prepares to welcome the German champions to Old Trafford on Tuesday.
But if United play this badly – and it was hard to exaggerate how miserable they were in almost every aspect of the game against a classy Bournemouth, who repeatedly beat them on the move and defended with fervor and intelligence – they can kiss. goodbye to the Champions League.
As it stands, they will still need the Galatasaray-Copenhagen match to end in a draw, even if they beat Bayern, to progress to the knockout stages.
However Bayern will certainly not be that poor again but you never know who United will be from one game to the next. After Bayern, Liverpool are next in the series for United at Anfield, where they lost 7-0 last season. Whatever happens, United captain Bruno Fernandes, who spent most of the Bournemouth game throwing his arms in the air and rolling around on the ground, will have no part after being booked here for suspend rules of disagreement.
This couldn’t be further removed from a bold, attack-minded performance in Wednesday’s 2-1 win at home to Chelsea. Bournemouth – driven forward from the front by the great Dominic Solanke – were better in and out of possession all over the pitch, wanted more and defended and attacked with cohesion, urgency, attack and intensity that were in stark contrast with their supine motions. opponent.
Harry Maguire was the only United player to emerge with any credit. Antony Martial was the worst of a formidable front three, Fernandes almost as bad and Sofyan Amrabat looked out of depth against Bournemouth’s pace and power.
United had 20 shots but only three on target, with Bournemouth blocking 12, but the truth is that Andoni Iraola’s fast-improving side looked comfortable.
Ten Hag claims his players are fully behind him but displays like this hardly suggest that much. Likewise, when players are second to none in all areas – mentally, physically and tactically – and when they hold the upper hand over their opponents the manager is in hiding.
By the time Bournemouth had grabbed their third with 17 minutes of normal time remaining, many of the United fans had decided they had seen enough and headed for the exits. Bournemouth would actually add a fourth through Dango Quattara after more defensive fury from United only for the home side to pull back from the Var, with Quattara rightfully ruled to have been handled before scoring.
The only significant celebration of the day came from the home crowd when Martial was taken off in the 56th minute and replaced by Rasmus Hojlund. Ten Hag does not favor a player who left the club years ago.
The contrast between Martial’s performance and that of No. Solanke was superb, putting his side ahead after five minutes with a beautiful first-time finish for his eighth Premier League goal of the campaign from Lewis Cook’s cross after United had been switched off. And so the tone was set for the evening.
United have gone behind in half of their 16 Premier League games this term and have conceded nine times in the first 30 minutes of games at Old Trafford in all competitions. This is a team that regularly starts slowly and often shoots itself in the foot.
On the contrary, this was one of the great days in Bournemouth’s history. The Iraola era was slow to progress but there is real momentum now, this is their fourth win in five league games. They were very successful all over the pitch, from Solanke up front to Marcus Tavenier and Antoine Semenyo on the wing and Cook and Ryan Christie in midfield.
All four goals were exceptional, with centre-back Marcos Senesi, excelling alongside the redoubtable Illia Zabarnyi, heading home the third from Tavernier’s corner after substitute Philip Billing had made it 2-0. five minutes earlier.
Meanwhile, United were sluggish and lacked pace and ideas and when they found themselves in good areas their final ball let them down time and time again.
Amrabat looked as if he had spent the evening running through treachery. Bournemouth’s first goal resulted from a poor pass from Fernandes which Scott McTominay was slow to deal with. But Cook had an eight-yard head start on Amrabat before crossing to finish Solanke.
Ten Hag can only hope that they will be better on Tuesday – and another bad day of their own at Bayern.
