Will the real Manchester United please stand up. Erik ten Hag keeps saying that his team are going in the right direction, but how can they when all they have done this season is wander around aimlessly in circles?
A week ago, the so-called form team in the Premier League were outclassed at Newcastle. In midweek, United beat Chelsea before celebrating a hat-trick of Premier League awards for November.
Here, on a rain-swept afternoon in Manchester, they stumbled to yet another humiliating defeat under Ten Hag as Bournemouth celebrated their first ever win at Old Trafford.
It will never match the club’s famous FA Cup victory over United at Dean Court in January 1984 when Harry Redknapp’s side were struggling towards the bottom of the old Third Division, but the Bournemouth fans won’t forget this one in a hurry and rightly so.
Andoni Iraola’s side thoroughly deserved it. They were smarter that United. More hungry. More clinical when it mattered. The goals came from Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi, and there could have been more as they had two efforts chalked off and also hit the post. Bournemouth have now won four of their last five games, drawing the other.
Dominic Solanke put the visitors 1-0 up after five minutes, placing the ball past Andre Onana with an excellent finish
It was Solanke’s eighth Premier League goal of the season, having also recently scored during Bournemouth’s 2-2 draw against Aston Villa
Boos rang out at Old Trafford at full-time with Erik ten Hag’s side cutting deflated figures as they walked off the pitch
United? They were dreadful. They had enough of the ball but couldn’t do anything with it. It’s hard to remember goalkeeper Neto making a save of note.
United now face Bayern Munich here on Tuesday night in some disarray. It’s a game they have to win to have chance of progressing to the knockout stage, and on the evidence of such an erratic season you actually wouldn’t put it past them.
But if they play anything like this against one of the best teams in Europe, they will be absolutely torn apart.
With Marcus Rashford only fit enough to sit on the bench after missing training through illness, Ten Hag also rested Rasmus Hojlund ahead of the Bayern clash.
Anthony Martial was trusted to lead the line with Ten Hag relying on the Frenchman to reproduce his impressive performance at Everton a fortnight ago rather than last weekend’s lamentable showing at Newcastle.
‘Rasmus Hojlund played a lot of games, and there are many games to play as well,’ said Ten Hag before kick-off. ‘But also, to give Anthony Martial the opportunity. ‘He played very good against Everton – less good against Newcastle – but he also has to prove it every day.’
Sadly for the United manager, what he got was another of those below-par performances we have seen too often, not just from Martial but from the rest of the his teammates.
Bournemouth were by the far the better side in the first half here. They were well worth a one-goal half-time lead thanks to Solanke’s ninth goal of the season, and it could have been even worse.
The signs weren’t good for United right from the start. Luke Shaw under-hit a back-pass to Andre Onana and Solanke got their first, going down rather too easily but enough to warrant a VAR penalty check. Sofyan Amrabat then moaned at Antony for not coming to meet his pass into midfield which was intercepted.
United had 20 attempts on goal, ten more than their opponents, but were not as clinical as Bournemouth
It was United’s second defeat in their last five matches in all competitions, with the Red Devil’s now sixth in the table, three points off Man City in fourth
Ten Hag made several substitutions in the second half, bringing on Facundo Pellistri, Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans, but they were unable to change the scoreline
United didn’t heed the early warnings and they were behind in the fifth minute. This time Bruno Fernandes played a lazy pass down the line to Scott McTominay who also decided he could wait for the ball to reach him.
Lewis Cook had other ideas and got to the ball first with a burst of acceleration that took him in front of McTominay and beyond United’s back-four in the same movement. Cook crossed low for Solanke who had found space in between Harry Maguire and Shaw, and he beat Onana with a lovely flick.
Solanke and Cook were the pick of a very good Bournemouth bunch. The striker proved a real handful for United’s defence, bullying them at times and then dropping deep to give their midfielders a hard time too. Cook continually read the situation and got to the ball first.
Bournemouth thought they had another in the 24th minute when Onana kept out Solanke’s header and Marcus Tavernier headed the loose ball home, but he was offside.
Diogo Dalot deflected Senesi’s header from Tavernier’s corner wide, and Solanke hit the post after Cook had nipped in again to intercept McTominay’s poor pass to Fernandes and tee up his teammate.
United did have their moments. Goalkeeper Neto tipped Maguire’s header over from Sergio Reguilon’s cross, Senesi’s block denied top scorer McTominay another goal, and Illia Zabarnyi spotted the danger and intercepted when Dalot’s pass almost sent Fernandes clear.
But United didn’t do nearly enough to trouble their opponents, with Martial in particular giving another of those infuriatingly ineffective displays.
The frustration within Old Trafford was summed up just before half-time when Maguire’s interception on the edge of his own box was greeted like a goal.
Within 11 minutes of the restart, Ten Hag had seen enough from Martial. Or maybe that should be not enough. The Frenchman was replaced by Hojlund to loud applause, although it was hard to say which part of that switch pleased the fans the most.
Hojlund almost immediately drew a booking for Zabarnyi, giving the Bournemouth defence more problems in five minutes than Martial had managed in an hour.
United continued to monopolise possession in the teeming rain without seriously troubling Neto’s goal, and Dalot fired into the side-netting at the end of one sweeping move.
Scott McTominay had a chance to pull one back in the first half, shooting from outside of the penalty area but couldn’t find the back of the net
Philip Billing got the second after half-time, heading in a cross from Marcus Tavernier
Marcos Senesi made it 3-0 in the 73rd minute, heading in another corner from Tavernier
Bruno Fernandes could have also been sent off after kicking out at Adam Smith in the second half
Bournemouth are now unbeaten in their last five matches winning four and drawing one
They paid the price when Bournemouth stunned Old Trafford with a second goal in the 68th minute. This time, Shaw’s aimless pass was intercepted and their opponents broke forward. Solanke fed Tavernier on the left and he crossed towards the edge of the six-yard box where 6ft 4in substitute Billing was always favourite to beat Shaw and Reguilon to head home.
United were floored and within five minutes it was three. Tavernier was again the architect as he swung in a corner from the right and no-one was picking up Senesi as he planted a header in the back of the net from 10 yards.
The goal was met by a chorus of boos from the United fans, some of whom started heading for home much to the delight of the away supporters.
It could have been even worse had substitute Dango Ouattara not had an injury-time effort chalked off for a marginal handball, but that was little consolation to Ten Hag on a quite atrocious day for his team.
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