The 17 unwanted records Manchester United have broken this season under Erik ten Hag | OneFootball

The 17 unwanted records Manchester United have broken this season under Erik ten Hag | OneFootball

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·4 ottobre 2023

The 17 unwanted records Manchester United have broken this season under Erik ten Hag

Immagine dell'articolo:The 17 unwanted records Manchester United have broken this season under Erik ten Hag

Highlights

  • Manchester United have broken several unwanted records this season, including being the first team to allow Galatasaray to win on English soil in 117 years.
  • United have also never had back-to-back defeats in the first two games of a Champions League campaign before this season.
  • Erik ten Hag's side have struggled defensively, conceding a total of 18 goals in their opening 10 games, a record that hasn't been achieved since 1967.

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It was once again a night to forget for Manchester United fans on Tuesday evening as they were beaten 3-2 at home by Galatasaray in the Champions League, leaving them with no points in their opening two games in the competition and already inflicting their sixth defeat of the season.


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Subsequently, a thread was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) labelling 17 unwanted records that Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has broken just 10 games into the new season. Manchester United fans, you might want to look away now.

Opening the thread, Manchester United became the first club in history to allow Galatasaray to venture onto English soil and take three points on their travels in the 117 years that the club has existed when winning at Old Trafford on Tuesday night. Secondly, United had never opened their first two fixtures of a Champions League campaign with back-to-back defeats until this season, losing 4-3 away at the Allianz Arena to Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and 3-2 to Galatasaray.

The English mammoth of a club had also never conceded seven goals in their opening two Champions League fixtures until now, struggling to cope with the quality of forwards against a back line that has not looked at the races at all thus far. The club had never conceded more than three goals in back-to-back Champions League games until last night either, with none other than Wilfried Zaha, a former Manchester United reject who was deemed not good enough, opening the scoring for the Turkish side on the night. Another damning statistic that Manchester United also broke last night was ending Galatasaray's barren run of not scoring in or winning an away goal in the Champions League since 2015, an eight-year record that was shattered yesterday.

Moving to Premier League records, Erik ten Hag has overseen his side losing four of their opening seven games, a feat that leaves them with as many defeats as relegation candidates Wolverhampton Wanderers and has never been achieved by a preceding manager in the club's history. Manchester United have also made their worst start to a league campaign since 1989, with the defeat at home to Crystal Palace on the weekend leaving them with a mere nine points from the 18 available, which, due to the Andre Onana incident against Wolverhampton on the opening day of the season, could be considered a fortunate tally.

Priding themselves on a club that is solid and hard to beat, Manchester United hadn't conceded four goals in a single Champions League fixture in 28 years, a record that was ended against Bayern Munich last week as the Germans made their defence look embarrassingly weak at times with their attacking quality.

Although it's not just in the Champions League where United have looked wobbly at best in defence, as Erik ten Hag oversaw an embarrassing run of conceding three or more goals in three consecutive matches for the first time since 1978, losing all three games at the hands of Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Bayern Munich.

In the second game of the season, United broke another unwanted record when suffering a 2-0 defeat away against Tottenham Hotspur, losing for the first time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in their fifth outing at the ground. Following on from the disappointing defeat against Spurs, Manchester United proceeded to break another record on their next away trip to the Emirates Stadium, as a 3-1 defeat meant that they would lose their opening two away fixtures for the first time since the 1973-74 season.

Breaking another unwanted defensive record in the Premier League this season, United became their first team since 1979 to concede two or more goals in four straight games, conceding two goals back-to-back against Tottenham and Nottingham Forest, then three goals back-to-back against Arsenal and Brighton.

Even in their victory over Nottingham Forest, the Red Devils have been breaking unwanted records this season, as they became the first United side to concede two goals in the opening four minutes of a Premier League game at Old Trafford, a record that was set by Taiwo Awoniyi and Willy Boly.

On the opening day of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United set the record for the most amount of shots conceded on their goal at Old Trafford in a single match, allowing 23 shots to be aimed at Andre Onana's net.

Brighton have also broken records against Erik ten Hag's Manchester United this season, as Roberto de Zerbi and Graham Potter have both now won away against the Dutchman's side, making them the first Brighton team to win consecutive matches at Old Trafford.

Back-to-back losses this week to Galatasaray and Crystal Palace renders Manchester United with six losses in their opening 10 games of the season, a record that has not been matched since 1986. Finally, and maybe most shockingly, the three goals that were conceded last night meant that Manchester United have shipped 18 goals in their opening 10 games of the season, the first time that this has been achieved since 1967, before Erik ten Hag was even born.

The statistics make for a very unpleasant reading, and this is not even regarding the record 7-0 defeat that United suffered at the hands of arch-rivals Liverpool last campaign. There is no doubt that Erik ten Hag has had his fair share of non-football-related situations that he has had to deal with since joining the club, such as the Cristiano Ronaldo interview, the Jadon Sancho saga, and the Antony scandal, but quite simply, the results on the pitch have not reflected the quality that is in the squad.

A third-place finish may have flattered to deceive last campaign, and many were expecting Manchester United to kick on this season and play a more attractive style of football that the Dutchman provided at Ajax, but so far that has not been the case.

One thing is for sure: Erik ten Hag has a massive job on his hands to rejuvenate and refocus his group of players, and subsequently, his job will be judged on what he delivers across the span of this season, but as of now, there is still much to improve upon, as a current 10th-placed position in the league is unacceptable by Manchester United's standards and will likely not be tolerated much longer if current form is to continue.

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