Sport

Manchester United are breaking all the wrong records under Erik ten Hag

It's a long old season but it has to be said, the stats don't make for great reading.

Danny Jones - 2nd November 2023

Manchester United were on the end of another disappointing defeat at the hands of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle on Wednesday night and yet another record they’d rather not have broken as their poor start to the season continues.

As well as the Carabao Cup holders being knocked out of the competition by the team they met in the final last year, the defeat to the Geordie boys just days after losing the Manchester derby by the same scoreline meant that this was the first time Man United have lost by three goals or more since 1962.

To put things into perspective, while the club is back on the up since their takeover, it was the Magpies’ biggest win at Old Trafford in over 100 years (7-4 back in 1930) and also saw the Red Devils mark their eighth loss in their opening 15 games of the season for the first time since 1962/68. Yikes.

They are some truly shocking stats and, sadly for Reds, the unwanted accolades don’t stop there — not even close. Here are some more of the bad records Man United have broken under Erik ten Hag.

United’s loss to Newcastle saw another unwanted record tied to ten Hag’s mast.

The EFL Cup defeat didn’t just see United notch a fifth home loss from their opening 10 fixtures for the first time since 1930-31 but even before that, the damning 3-0 defeat to Man City on Sunday also saw them register a 26th league loss at Old Trafford in nearly a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

For context, that’s more home defeats than Sir Alex suffered during his entire 26-year career at the Theatre of Dreams. The historic stains just keep coming, both domestically and continentally.

When Galatasaray beat ten Hag’s side 3-2 at Old Trafford just last month, it was the first time the Turkish team had ever won a game on English soil in their entire 117 years as a club; it was also the first away goal they’d scored in the Champions League full stop since 2015.

United had already equalled their worst start to a league season since 1989 before this European fixture, which also saw them suffer consecutive defeats in their opening two UCL games for the first time ever (yes, another one), and things don’t look to improving any time soon. Honestly, we could go on for quite a while but, luckily, one fan already beat us to it.

Records broken so far this season –

– Galatasaray hadn't won a game on English soil in 117 years of existing, until Erik Ten Hag.

– Manchester United had never lost the opening 2 CL group games, until Erik Ten Hag.

– Manchester United had never conceded 7 goals in the… pic.twitter.com/PEyclk1ZYo
— Mike (@MikeLUHG2) October 3, 2023

Club legend Gary Neville summed things up yet again last night by saying he saw the “Theatre of Dreams turn into the Theatre of Nothing”, describing every supporter inside the ground as “bored and flat”, before adding, “We’ve seen it before, we know how it ends and we’ve had enough.”

The question is, the way it’s going at the minute, how long will the 53-year-old be given if it continues like this and the football doesn’t improve?

While most fans still believe the club’s ownership is the root of the problem and things won’t change until the Glazers are gone, many are also wondering if this group of players have already downed tools as has been suggested with managers in the past.

As for the Dutch coach himself, speaking in the post-match presser after the latest defeat, he assured that the team knows the performances are “not good enough”, let alone the results themselves, insisting that he “has to take responsibility” for their failures so far this season and turn things around.