The Busby Babe

As the minutes ticked away at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Ruben Amorim appeared on the television screen. He was hunched over, possibly in prayer, despair, or somewhere in between as Manchester United continued its descent toward the bottom of the Premier League table.

The Reds have picked up just 14 points from a possible 42 since Amorim’s appointment. He was thrown into the fire, there is no doubt of that, taking over from Erik ten Hag as the side was just treading above water.

In that time, the team has adopted the new attitude of the INEOS era. There has been brutal honesty about the club’s financial situation and ruthless offloading of club staff. Whether cruelly or justifiably, Marcus Rashford was alienated and sent on loan, with Antony and Tyrell Malacia following him out the door for their own loan spells.

Yesterday, the picture of how bad things are became clearer with the acknowledgment of major injuries. Amad, United’s one bright spark this campaign, is likely out for the rest of the season with a serious ankle problem. Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte will also miss some weeks of action.

January saw just one arrival, Patrick Dorgu, who started at left-back against Tottenham on Sunday. Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro held down the midfield fort while Rasmus Hojlund, Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho started as the only fit first-team forwards.

The bench featured a fresh slate of academy players and Victor Lindelof, signaling just how desperate the squad situation is. It would seem that this will be the team for the remainder of the season, barring more major injuries, so it would have made sense to see at least a couple of the kids take the field against Spurs.

That wasn’t the case.

Amorim, who has not hesitated to tinker with his lineup amid poor form, made just one substitute all match. Chido Obi came on in the 90th minute and barely saw the ball in three minutes of stoppage-time action.

United lost 1-0 after a poor defensive lapse allowed Spurs two chances in the first half. The first was saved, but the rebound allowed James Maddison to convert on the second chance.

The Reds offered very little despite having space to attack. Alejandro Garnacho whiffed on a great chance to equalize, and though he had two more decent chances he was unable to trouble Guglielmo Vicario.

It was a matchup of two struggling sides who have greatly underachieved this season, and still United looked much more like the team in turmoil.

It is going from bad to worse and there is no chance for reinforcements. United are unlikely to be relegated given how bad the bottom sides are, but make no mistake this team is deservedly hovering just above them.

Here are your player ratings from Manchester United’s 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur:

Andre Onana - 3

Should’ve done better on the first goal. United have got bigger problems but he’s one as well.

Diogo Dalot - 3

Gets into decent positions but never offers a threat once he gets there. He’s a decent full-back but he’s not a wing-back.

Noussair Mazraoui - 6

Kept Son quiet.

Harry Maguire - 6

Never really looked too fazed by Tel.

Matthijs de Ligt - 6

The three central defenders weren't at fault for the most part despite conceding many shots.

Patrick Dorgu - 5

Calm but didn’t have much of an effect in the forward areas as Garnacho often looked to cut inside or stay wide.

Casemiro - 3

His time was up a while back but was left isolated by the tactics.

Bruno Fernandes - 4

Had some decent moments but also saw the worst of him.

Alejandro Garnacho - 4

Was a threat but poor in front of goal,

Joshua Zirkzee - 5

Showed some skill but they never led to anything constructive.

Rasmus Hojlund - 3

The lack of threat and poor hold-up play is unacceptable and it has been going on for too long.

Subs:

Chido Obi - N/A

Manager:

Ruben Amorim - 3

The window was poor and the injury news before the game didn't help but the lack of belief and spark is concerning. The sub came on too late as well.

Two fallen titans of the English game butt heads in Sunday’s Premier League main event, as Tottenham Hotspur welcome Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United to their North London home.

Victory for the Lilywhites would enable them to leapfrog their equally lowly opponents in the bottom half of the Premier League table, although neither can consider themselves to be completely clear of the relegation picture just yet.

Before December’s captivating 4-3 EFL Cup quarter-final triumph, Postecoglou’s Tottenham were too hot for Erik ten Hag’s Man United to handle in a 3-0 Old Trafford trouncing, meaning that they could now do the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League for the very first time.

Lisandro Martinez are now both on the mend from similar operations; the Man United defender reportedly underwent his earlier this week and will be one of several guaranteed absentees for the visitors in North London.

Luke Shaw (calf), Mason Mount (thigh), Jonny Evans (back), Tom Heaton (unspecified) and Altay Bayindir (unspecified) remain sidelined too, and Amorim also revealed in his pre-game press conference that he had another ‘one or two issues’, which are now reported to be the trio of Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer.

While neither Ugarte nor Collyer have been ruled out just yet, Mainoo is apparently set for a couple of weeks on the sidelines, and it has also been claimed that integral attacker Amad Diallo could miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury in another crushing blow.

The cup success over Leicester saw new arrival Patrick Dorgu peculiarly make his debut on the right-hand side before being hooked at the break for Alejandro Garnacho, who will surely be rewarded for that game-changing cameo with a start on Sunday.

Premier League schedule

It’s an afternoon kickoff in the UK, which means 2:00 PM on the east coast of the U.S.

Premier League channel

The match is only available on radio in the UK. Those Stateside can watch on Peacock streaming. If you’re in Canada, you can stream the game through DAZN.

Everyone else, head on over to LiveSoccerTV to find your viewing options.

Lineups

A place in the last four of the EFL Cup is up for grabs on Thursday night when Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester United to North London for a quarter-final showdown.

Both teams enter this contest on a high after picking up maximum points in the Premier League last weekend, with Spurs hitting five past Southampton and the Red Devils claiming the bragging rights over wounded rivals Manchester City.

Although Man United are still languishing in 13th place in the Premier League table, there are just six points separating them from the top four and Amorim will hope that the “belief” shown by his players against Man City can be carried over into their upcoming fixtures.

Six-time EFL Cup winners Man United will now shift their focus to Thursday’s trip to Spurs whom they have failed to beat in each of their last four meetings, most recently suffering a humbling 3-0 home defeat in the Premier League in September under former boss Erik ten Hag.

However, the Red Devils can be confident of success in North London as they have won each of their last six EFL Cup away ties by an aggregate score of 14-1 - beating Chelsea and Man City during this run - while they have already scored 12 goals across just two games in this year’s competition - thumping Barnsley 7-0 and Leicester City 5-2 at Old Trafford.

Man United is sweating over the fitness of Mason Mount (leg) and Noussair Mazraoui (knock), who were forced off in Sunday’s win over Man City in the Premier League. While Mount is expected to miss out, Mazraoui will be assessed ahead of kickoff.

Luke Shaw remains in the treatment room as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, while fellow defender Jonny Evans has missed Man United’s last six games with an unspecified issue and remains a doubt.

Amorim has a big decision to make over whether to recall Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho to his matchday squad after they were both dropped last weekend. Both attackers are in contention to return, but a start is not guaranteed for either player.

Since arriving at the club, Amorim has regularly rotated his Red Devils team. He is expected to freshen up his first XI once again, with Leny Yoro, Tyrell Malacia, Casemiro, Antony, and Joshua Zirkzee all pushing to start.

EFL Cup Schedule

It’s an afternoon kickoff in the UK, which means 8:30 PM on the east coast of the U.S.

EFL Cup Channel

The match can be seen on Sky Sports in the UK. Those Stateside can watch on USA or NBC sports streaming. If you’re in Canada, you can stream the game through DAZN.

Everyone else, head on over to LiveSoccerTV to find your viewing options.

Lineups

Manchester United Women returned to Women’s Super League play on Sunday after a week off, and had little trouble with last season’s FA Cup Final opponents. The Reds won 3-0 against Tottenham Hotspur thanks to new signing Elisabeth Terland, who scored her first goals in a red shirt after her move from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer.

Terland scored 13 goals for the Seagulls last season and was a prized transfer target for the big clubs in England this summer. She was limited in chances but failed to convert on a couple of high xG chances in her first two games, so getting off the mark against a decent Tottenham team was a good way to open her account and ease doubts about making a move up to United.

Jayde Riviere and Geyse both missed the match through injury, meaning former Spurs loanee Grace Clinton and former Spurs winger Celin Bizet got the start on right, and both made an impression early to help United take the lead.

Bizet fired a pair of Terland-seeking missiles in the first half, charging up from right back to find her fellow Norway teammate and give United a 2-0 lead.

Terland skillfully challenged the defender to volley home the first goal, and used her head for the second as United struck twice in just a few minutes at the end of the half, taking a 2-0 lead into the break.

United wrapped things up before the hour, with captain Maya Le Tissier converting from the penalty spot to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.

Simi Awujo and Hinata Miyazawa arrived alongside Rachel Williams to help see out the win, and Miyazawa nearly scored from the left to make it 4-0, but her shot was denied by Spencer.

In the end 3-0 was enough. United avoided further injury worry after Phallon Tullis-Joyce went down, though returned to see out the game after examination from the physios.

Unfortunately, if you’re a fan of Manchester United, there have been far too many dark days at Old Trafford in recent years.

A stadium once synonymous with success has turned into a place where big teams remind us of how far the club has fallen from its lofty heights.

Under Erik ten Hag, the defeat vs Tottenham may have been the most damning and time will tell if it’s to be the most damaging, but in truth, there’s plenty of reason as to why it should be.

For now, it seems Ten Hag has been granted till the international break to show this team is still behind him (it probably is) but it’s his consistent persistence of being capricious with the tactics and setup that play into the opposition’s hands.

Too much change has hampered his United team, they often look bizarrely like a mishmash of three different styles.

There is a clear blueprint for how to beat Tottenham Hotspur this season. Before the game on Sunday, Ange Postecoglou was under pressure. After a 3-0 battering which, let’s face it could’ve been much worse, the media are championing this win as ‘defining’ and a ‘masterclass’.

Even if those two things are true, it’s because Ten Hag ignored the issues Tottenham faced and decided to set his team up in a manner that gave Tottenham all the solutions and space they needed to run rampant.

What has tended to happen this season, is teams (like Arsenal for instance) set up to nullify Tottenham. They commit a lot of men in attack, so when they run out of ideas as to how to successfully find their attackers in space when you win the ball back THEN you can hit them with transitions.

Instead, United decided the way to go about things was to commit their own attack in the press (which as we’ve seen from last season still has it’s issues) and Tottenham’s attackers were smart enough to move United’s block around and drag players at will.

Even when United didn’t press, the performance was eerily similar to last season when teams manipulated United’s structure out of possession.

The ball would go wide to Werner and as a winger went over to help the full-back, just in front of him, an attacker in Maddison would take away the covering central midfielder (Ugarte).

It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before, the opposition easily pulling United players around, which begs the question if there is so much evidence of this occurring previously, why hasn’t Ten Hag done anything about it?

In his first season, he was praised for smelling what the game needed. Be it, using full-backs to break down teams that sit deep, staying compact and utilising transitions to hit the better teams on the break or just riding off the confidence of his tinkering as games entered their later stages.

Now he’s changing too much, too often and has lost his sniff for what’s needed in matches. We’re five games into the season and both Liverpool and Tottenham have ripped United to shreds. This was a manager heavily backed in the window on the back of a magnificent cup win against the best manager in the world and the best team in the world.

After toing and froing and publicly meeting with other managers, a new contract extension was hashed out and Ten Hag was eventually deemed the manager to lead United in the INEOS era, the conglomerate backed the Dutchman financially too.

Perhaps we’re seeing why there was a delay in announcing that Ten Hag would stay as United manager. Last season the squad was decimated by injury and in response, each tactical ploy from the former Ajax manager failed miserably.

Not only does he have a squad this season that is fit, but he also has several new additions with whom he has previously worked.

Four of United’s back five have already worked under Ten Hag. The issue is, if this was game five and we didn’t already have mountains of evidence where teams have exploited United’s structure without the ball the reaction wouldn’t be like this. Still, frankly, it was a gigantic surprise Ten Hag was the coach in the first place going into the season.

The Dutchman has been on thin ice since last season’s miserable league form, now the ice is quickly cracking beneath him.

Reports have suggested that the Porto and Aston Villa games coming up are last chance saloon for the Dutchman to prove he should be the manager for INEOS’s first season.

Either a remarkable turnaround occurs where finally it’s sunk in that United and the former Utrecht manager can’t continue playing in this manner or the likelihood is, heading to the international break after this game week a decision is taken.

The latter would, unfortunately, be justifiable in a club whose gloriously successful history continues to be a burden for any manager to live up to.

Here are your player ratings from Manchester United’s 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur:

Andre Onana - 6

Couldn’t do much for the goals and stopped it from being five or six.

Noussair Mazraoui - 5

There weren’t a lot of good performances today but it’s clear that there are bigger problems at the moment. Put in his challenges right till the end but it was to no avail.

Matthijs de Ligt - 4

Wasn’t quick enough when closing down and easily bypassed at times. Not lacking in character but saw some of his flaws today.

Lisandro Martinez - 3

The second goal has summed up his season. Looked more like his best self after the second goal but it’s a bit worrying.

Diogo Dalot - 3

For all the improvements in the last two seasons, he has far too many lapses in concentration.

Manuel Ugarte - 3

Has looked nervy since moving to the club. Looks like he’s still getting used to the intensity. The set-up hasn’t helped him but it looks like he’ll need some time regardless.

Kobbie Mainoo - 4

Looks like he’ll be gone for a while. Hasn’t had the best start to this season but asking him to cover acres of space doesn’t help.

Bruno Fernandes - 2

Thought he was a bit unlucky with the red but he’s made an awful start to the season and some time on the sidelines might be a blessing in disguise.

Marcus Rashford - 5

Had some moments but didn’t have the quality.

Joshua Zirzkee - 3

Unlike Ugarte, he's shown some of his qualities but he looks like another player who lacks intensity. Often gets caught ball-watching as well.

Alejandro Garnacho - 3

Garnacho has not looked great from the right in his starts, which is a concern. It seemed like he’d locked that position in the second half of last season.

Subs:

Mason Mount - 4

Brought some industry but was poor on set-pieces.

Casemiro - 5

Added some physicality at looked like a threat on set-pieces.

Christian Eriksen - 3

Was poor on the corners.

Rasmus Hojlund and Amad Diallo - N/A

Neither of them have looked good off the bench this season.

Manager:

Erik Ten Hag - 1

I’d be surprised if he stays after that. Two big tests at Old Trafford this season and two embarrassments. He has wasted a second crack at the job. United fans are patient but he couldn’t afford another performance like the 4-0 against Palace from last season. You can’t win trophies in September but you can lose a lot.

Manchester United reached another low in the young 2024/25 Premier League campaign on Saturday. Erik ten Hag’s team lost 3-0 against Tottenham at Old Trafford, a performance marred by a red card but in truth lacked the organization and identity to instill any confidence in the first half, or indeed in the project as a whole.

ten Hag’s team was similar to a week ago, with Rashford staying in the XI and Amad going to the bench. Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Maino formed a midfield pivot behind Bruno Fernandes and Matthijs De Ligt returned to the team after being rotated in Europa.

That was about the extent of United’s organization, and Tottenham quickly pounced on a team in disorder defending transitions. Brennan Johnson arrived at the back post unmarked with acres of space to tap in the opening goal after just three minutes.

The chance stemmed from a giveaway up front with Garnacho and Rashford failing to connect on a breakaway attempt. Mickey van de Ven then took the ball at full speed to the byline, cutting through nearly the entire right side of the team before setting up his teammate with no Reds in sight.

It was a pathetic start to what would be a pathetic display. Not for lack of effort, the players had that, but there was no direction to it and it showed. Frustration built early, players were never where their teammates thought they would be, and the only plan to move forward came via counters and long balls, asking far too much of the wingers and striker Joshua Zirkzee.

The Dutch center forward did have a decent chance to equalize on a cutback from Garnacho, but the shot was saved by Vicario.

The first half ended even worse for United, with Bruno Fernandes sent off for a high boot challenge and Kobbie Mainoo limping off injured. Mount replaced the youngster just before the break, but United were down to 10 men.

Tottenham took advantage early in the second half with Dejan Kulusevski scoring far too easily from close range. Dominic Solanke would add a third late in the match, but there was a spell of good play from United in between. The players and fans didn’t give up, but it was still nowhere near enough to make the game competitive.

Things are bad. This is the joint-worst start to a Premier League season, coming after a worst-ever Premier League season for the club. Erik ten Hag will have to find answers or the calls for a change will be deafening.