MANCHESTER, England — Several teams have got the better of Manchester United already this season, and it’s easy to see why. Tottenham Hotspur are revitalised under Ange Postecoglou, Arsenal are genuine title challengers, Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton & Hove Albion are one of the most well-coached teams in the Premier League and Bayern Munich are Champions League contenders. However, Saturday’s defeat — 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace — is almost inexplicable.
Of all the setbacks Erik ten Hag’s team have suffered this season, this is the biggest red flag of the lot. And they are now running out of excuses.
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Palace arrived at Old Trafford having won just three of their previous 14 Premier League away games and yet still found a way to inflict a fifth defeat of the campaign on United and a fourth in the league. The loss marks United’s worst start to a league season for 34 years, and any hope of building on Ten Hag’s positive first year as a manager already appears to be in tatters.
With time running out, substitute Harry Maguire pinged an aimless pass off the legs of Alejandro Garnacho and out for a Palace throw-in — a neat bow on a United performance lacking any structure or cohesion. As the final whistle sounded on the visitors’ 1-0 win and their 76-year-old manager Roy Hodgson jogged onto the pitch in the Manchester rain to congratulate his players, boos sounded around Old Trafford.
“I understand,” Ten Hag said when asked about the reaction. “When we played at home or away and we play Crystal Palace, we have to win. With all respect, I know every game in the Premier League is very difficult, you have to play your best, and I understand fans expecting a win and we didn’t win, we lost.”
This was supposed to be the point at which United’s season began to turn around. Back-to-back wins over Burnley and Palace (in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday) was the perfect start to a kind run of fixtures that includes seven at home before Nov. 1, but Old Trafford is no longer the fortress it was last season. Brighton inflicted a first home league defeat in more than a year when they won 3-1, but Palace repeated the trick just two weeks later, and there will be plenty of anxiety among fans who turn up here for the game against Galatasaray on Tuesday and against Brentford in the Premier League four days later.
“We’ve now lost two games in a row in the Premier League [at home] and we have to do better, that is definitely the case,” Ten Hag said. “We have to show it in our body language that Old Trafford is a fortress and you can’t get anything here and the only thing you can go away with is a loss.
“I think I can’t blame the players and say they didn’t run. They gave everything, but in the final part, in both boxes, we didn’t do well.”
