Erik ten Hag said Manchester United’s humiliation at Crystal Palace marked a new low in their campaign as he accused his players of failing to follow his “script” or stick to his “rules”.
United’s dismal season worsened with a dreadful 4-0 defeat at Selhurst Park, which will increase the mounting pressure on the manager as he fights to stay in his job beyond this campaign.
Ten Hag said his players had “let each other down” as they were ripped apart by a hugely impressive Palace side, for whom Michael Olise produced a wonderful individual performance.
“It was definitely the worst defeat [of the season]“Ten Hag said. “We should have done better. We are aware as a team performance, we were not correct, making big mistakes and not following the plan and the script. And the rules we have.
“Of course there were also individual mistakes but then we should cover each other, which we didn’t do. “We let each other down.”
Asked if this was a new low point of the season, Ten Hag said: “Yes. It was very poor how we gave the goals away, especially when we prepared the team.
“This is the fourth defeat in 2024. So far you have always seen a team that was playing and following the script. That is why we didn’t have a lot of wins, but we were hard to beat. Today we were easy to beat.”
United’s problems were not helped by their lengthy injury list, which now includes both Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire. They were forced to field a patched-up defence, in which Casemiro endured a terrible evening. Telegraph Sport columnist Jamie Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, said Casemiro’s performance was “embarrassing”.
Asked about his own position, Ten Hag insisted he is still the man to take United forward, providing his injury crisis eases up. “Absolutely, if we have the right players available,” he said. “[Today] we miss almost the whole back line, then we have problems.
“I will keep fighting. “I prepared the team in the best way I could, it wasn’t good enough, I took responsibility for that.”
United have now conceded 81 goals in all competitions this season, their most in a single campaign since 1976-77. They have lost 13 Premier League matches over the course of the campaign, a club record.
Oliver Glasner said his Palace side could have played even better. “I think the first-half performance wasn’t our top level,” he said. “It was an open game in the first half but we were efficient.
“We didn’t give them any space in defense [after the break]. Second half was really good but first half we could do better.”
What the pundits and players said about United’s capitulation…
Jamie Carragher on Casemiro:
“This has got nothing to do with playing out of position, that could be in a holding midfield role. That’s embarrassing. They need to bring him off, he has to come off the pitch.
“He needs to call it a day at this level of football and move.”
Carragher on Man Utd’s support:
“Most teams’ away support is fantastic, but Manchester United’s are absolutely fantastic because their players don’t deserve that.”
Carragher on the result:
“No Manchester United team should be losing 4-0 to Crystal Palace. I get the injury issues, but Manchester United’s Under-23s will have been coached, come through the academy and taught how to play. “I think if Manchester United’s Under-23s played against Crystal Palace tonight, they still wouldn’t have lost 4-0 tonight.”
Ashley Young on Palace’s first goal:
“You look at the first goal, it’s crazy the way they’re set up. Palace have got a throw-in in their own half.
“It’s just one run from Olise. He sees the space and just runs into it. It’s shambolic, Casemiro I don’t know what he’s thinking, Olise sees he’s going to make a challenge, he just walks past him, it’s so easy.”
Christian Eriksen after full-time:
“A big disappointment. We just had an off-day and we weren’t in it.
“It is what it is. We can’t really change the injury things. We have to do what we can on the pitch to change it. Today it didn’t matter who we played. Everyone could have done better.
“I don’t know what the conclusion is for how it went. We weren’t good enough.
“We tried to do what we could but we were not good enough. “We’ll take the blame as players.”
