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Ten Hag claims his players are fully behind him but displays like this hardly suggest as much. Equally, when players are second best in all areas – mentally, physically and tactically – then the manager is on a hiding to nothing.
By the time Bournemouth had plundered their third with 17 minutes of normal time remaining, many United fans resolved they had seen enough and headed for the exit. Bournemouth would actually add a fourth through Dango Quattara after more defensive madness from United only for the home team to be granted a reprieve by the Var, with Quattara correctly ruled to have handled as he bundled his way past Andre Onana to score.
Boos greeted the interval and full-time whistle and the only notable cheer of the day came when Anthony Martial – how does he still play for this football club? – was removed in the 56th minute and replaced by Rasmus Hojlund.
The contrast between Martial’s performance and that of Bournemouth’s No. 9 could not have been starker and, in many ways, encapsulated the difference between the sides. Solanke was outstanding, putting his team in front after just five minutes with a lovely first time finish for his 8th Premier League goal of the campaign from Lewis Cook’s cross after United switched off. And so the tone was set for the afternoon.
United have gone behind in half of their 16 Premier League games this term and have conceded nine times in the first half an hour of matches in all competitions. Indeed, they have only led in the Premier League at Old Trafford this season for a total of 106 minutes. You cannot hope to be competitive with statistics like that. This is a team that routinely starts slowly and frequently shoots themselves in the foot.
This, conversely, was one of the great days in Bournemouth’s history. The Andoni Iraola reign was slow to get going but it has momentum now, this their fourth win in five league games. All over the pitch they excelled, from Solanke upfront to Marcus Tarvenier and Antoine Semenyo on the flanks to Cook and Ryan Christie in the midfield.
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