Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE SLAMMED
Ole’s feeble team were just lucky there were no fans to witness this six-goal, utter humiliation.. inflicted by Jose
A YEAR ago, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faced calls to be sacked after an abject defeat at Newcastle.
After this spineless humiliation – Manchester United’s heaviest defeat for nine years – those calls for him to go will be even louder and more persistent.
That it was his predecessor, who handed United their lowest moment since a 6-1 home defeat by Manchester City in 2011, only made it worse.
This was supposed to be a season of progress for United , one i n which Solskjaer (left) and his players would kick on after last season’s encouraging third-place finish. But just three league games i nto the new campaign, the club are in the grip of a crisis, with Solskjaer’s job on the line and the spectre of Mauricio Pochettino looming large over him.
United are on three points after three games, down in 16th place, but could easily be on zero points, such has been their woeful start to the season.
After losing their opener to C r y s t a l Pa l a c e , they were lucky to beat Brighton and here their defensive failings were ruthlessly punished by Spurs, led by the irrepressible He u n g - mi n S o n and Harry Kane.
United have spent the summer unsuccessfully pursuing Jadon Sancho, when it was their defence that needed the most urgent attention.
Porto’s Alex Telles is set to join today, but it will take more than a new left-back to address the Reds’ defensive woes, while the arrival of ageing striker Edinson Cavani looks even more of a vanity signing after this debacle.
United made the perfect start, Anthony Martial drawing a rash challenge from Davison Sanchez after 24 seconds to w i n a p e n a l ty. Bruno Fernandes scored from the spot, but that was as good as it got for United.
Within two minutes, Spurs were level, Harry Maguire’s weak header back to
David De Gea putting United in trouble, allowing Erik Lamela to wrestle Luke Shaw off the ball and leaving the way clear for Tanguy Ndombele to plunder an equaliser.
United were still reeling from that soft goal when they found themselves 2-1 down in the seventh minute. Kane’s quickly taken free-kick set Son through on goal, the forward outpacing Shaw and Eric Bailly before finding the far corner.
If conceding twice in quick succession was bad enough for United, their task became that much harder in the 28th minute when Martial was shown a straight red for violent conduct.
As United defended a corner, Martial became involved in a needless spat with Lamela, who instigated the clash, putting his forearm under Martial’s chin and draw ing a retali ator y sl ap.