Man Utd 1-6 Tottenham
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suffered his “worst day as Manchester United manager” on Sunday as his side were humiliated 6-1 at home by Tottenham.
United scored first but were blown away by Spurs before and after Anthony Martial was sent off, as they suffered their joint worst Premier League loss.
The result leaves Solskjaer’s side in 16th place in the table.
“We have contributed a lot to our own downfall,” said Solskjaer, who played for the club before becoming manager.
“To explain now is quite difficult. We have been beaten 6-1 at home by a very good side.
“It is the worst day of my career as Manchester United manager and the worst day for all of them as United players.
“It is not the worst day in Manchester United history, we have bounced back before.”
The defeat brings with it a number of unwanted stats for United:Their joint-heaviest defeat in the Premier League – losing by five goals for the fourth time in the competition, and for the first time since a 6-1 defeat by Manchester City in October 2011.
Defeat in their first two home games of a league campaign for just the fifth time in the club’s history, with 1986/87 being the previous occasion.
Conceding six goals in a single Premier League game for only the third time – with each coming in October (1996 v Southampton, 2011 v Man City, today v Spurs).
Tottenham become the first visiting side to score four first-half goals in a league game away at Manchester United since Spurs themselves also did so in November 1957 in a 4-3 win.
Bruno Fernandes put United ahead from the penalty spot, but Tottenham turned the game in their favour with goals from Tanguy Ndombele and Son Heung-min.
Martial’s red card for lashing out at Erik Lamela was followed soon after by a strike from Harry Kane before Spurs ran riot, with Son and Serge Aurier scoring before Kane added the sixth from the penalty spot.
“Sometimes you make mistakes, that’s part of life and we made too many mistakes in one game of football and that shows in the result,” said Solskjaer, who felt Martial deserved to be sent off but was also unhappy with the manner of Lamela’s reaction.
“The red card makes a lot of difference but Anthony Martial, well done for staying up when he was struck by the arm of Erik Lamela, you don’t react but he hit his throat with two fingers, gave him a little slap and Lamela must be having an operation. If that was my son, I know what I would tell him.
“Anthony knows he should not react like that, the good thing is he did not go down but if he did maybe the other lad would be sent off.
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire made an error that led to Tottenham’s first goal and his display earned him a rating of just 1.85 out of 10 by BBC Sport readers.
Along with Luke Shaw – who got 1.96 – they were the only players to get a rating lower than two.
It is the first time this season that there has been a rating lower than two for any player in any game in the Premier League.
Shaw, who was booked in the closing stages for an absurdly late challenge on Lucas Moura, admitted after the game that he felt embarrassed to be on the pitch.
“Manchester United shouldn’t lose in this manner,” he told Sky Sports.
“It really hurts, it’s embarrassing and we’ve let a lot of people down. We’ve let ourselves down and the staff down.
“It’s embarrassing. I was embarrassed on the pitch. We need a long hard look at ourselves.”
