Manchester United sank at home against Tottenham on Sunday during the 6th day of the Premier League, with a 3-0 defeat suffered in numerical inferiority due to the red card received by captain Bruno Fernandes.
The third setback of the season places the “Red Devils” in the second half of the standings, in twelfth place with seven points. Tottenham are eighth with ten units.
At Old Trafford, the Mancunians conceded the opener after 155 seconds through Brennan Johnson, scorer of his fourth goal in four matches in all competitions.
The defense was pierced by a solitary raid from central defender Micky van de Ven, who started from his own half to deliver a perfect cross for Johnson (3rd, 1-0).
The latter shot at the post (20th), Cristian Romero narrowly missed the target on an acrobatic recovery (33rd) and Timo Werner missed a duel against André Onana (39th) in a one-sided first period.
The redemption mission became complicated after the expulsion of captain Fernandes, guilty of a high foot on James Maddison (42nd).
A yellow card, “okay”, but “never a red”, “I didn’t touch it with the crampons or with my foot, it was my ankle”defended the Portuguese leader.
At ten, “the team showed a lot of character, resilience, fight. They tried, it wasn’t easy.he said.
The Spurs widened the gap in the second half thanks to Dejan Kulusevski (48th, 2-0) and Dominic Solanke (77th, 3-0).
Manchester United experienced one last setback with the injury exit in the 85th minute of Mason Mount, whose scalp was bloody after a head clash with Radu Dragusin.
The star consultants for broadcaster Sky Sports, also former Manchester United players, were very harsh in their post-match comments towards the team in the red jersey.
“There was no effort, no work, no leaders on the ground”said Ashley Young, for whom “everything was bad from start to finish”. “It was disgusting, both in terms of effort and quality”said Gary Neville, seeing it as “one of the worst performances” of the Erik ten Hag era.
“Conceding a goal after two or three minutes like that had an impact on our confidence”noted the Dutch coach to the BBC. In the content, “It’s not enough. We have to accept it and improve.”.
