Damning stats Manchester United owners can't ignore which show they've been worse than Everton
Today at 06:04 AM
Manchester United’s poor start to the season went from bad to worse against Tottenham, and the numbers paint a bleak picture.
The Red Devils were well beaten by Spurs, suffering a demoralising 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford to leave them 12th in the Premier League, having lost three of their opening six games.
It was a miserable afternoon from start to finish for United, who went behind to a Brennan Johnson strike after three minutes, before captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off just before half-time.
Spurs put pay to their man advantage, as Dejan Kulusevski doubled their lead moments after the restart, before Dominic Solanke rounded off the humbling in the final 15 minutes.
The result piles the pressure on under-fire manager Erik ten Hag, who narrowly kept his job in the summer following a disappointing campaign which saw United finish an record low eighth-place in the Premier League.
And while the Dutchman’s position in charge is not believed to be immediately under threat, the lack of upturn in results has seen his side record some worrying statistics.
United are now on their joint-fewest ever points after six games of a Premier League campaign, with their goal tally the second-lowest ever during the same time frame, after the 2007/08 season.
Worse still, the Red Devils’ failure to banish last season’s demons now means that they have less points from their last 15 league games than bottom-half strugglers Everton.
The Toffees have picked up 21 points during this period, two more than United’s 19.
Prior to their 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, Sean Dyche’s side had been rooted at the foot of the table, losing four of their opening five games.
And there are even more damning statistics for ten Hag personally following their three-goal drubbing to Spurs.
Since the retirement of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, no United side has conceded three goals in a game on more occasions than under the Dutch coach’s leadership.
Since his appointment in April 2022, ten Hag has taken charge of 123 matches, and has seen his side ship three goals in 23 of them.
The 18.7 per cent rate is comfortably worse than any other managers during this time, with his predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seeing this happen 14 times in 168 games in comparison.
United were certainly more defensively sound under other former bosses Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal, whose teams only conceded such an amount in 4.9 per cent and 7.7 per cent of their games in charge respectively.
With Ten Hag expected to remain at the helm for at least the next two games, he will be hoping to shed the unpleasant figures and prove his credentials as manager.
His side travel to Porto in the Europa League on Thursday, before a potentially fateful trip to Aston Villa in their next league game.
