Man Utd make worst start since 1989 as pressure mounts on Erik ten Hag

Manchester United have now suffered their worst start to a Premier League season this century. The Erik ten Hag dream is quickly turning into a nightmare.

The defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday means United have lost four of the first seven games for the first time since 1989, when Sir Alex Ferguson had to fend off fan protests to keep his job.

There is no sign of that for Ten Hag at the moment. Indeed, the club have opened channels about handing him a new contract but he needs to put things right and quickly.

A narrow win over Burnley and the Carabao Cup victory over Palace in midweek clearly papered over some huge cracks at United. Saturday's loss dropped the Red Devils down to tenth place with Palace climbing above them into ninth.

The old adage that the league table never lies serves the test of time here. United looked averaged at Old Trafford and were booed off the pitch on Saturday. Ten Hag admitted the fans had every right to express themselves.

He said: "We have to beat teams like Palace, all respect to them.

"We have to be more consistent, we have to do better. There are no excuses, we have to win. We have to show it, even in our body language, Old Trafford is a fortress and we have show it."

But why are United performing so badly? Yes, injuries have plagued Ten Hag and his squad, but all of their major new arrivals were on display in the Palace defeat. Andre Onana, Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund and Sofyan Amrabat, who will cost United more than £200m when the final bills are settled up, all started the game.

Onana, who has been anything but secure since arriving, had little to do and shouldn't shoulder much responsibility, but the rest were way off the pace.

Amrabat was pushed into an inverted left-back role he should be capable of performing in but was disappointing, instead being toyed with by Jordan Ayew. Amrabat needs to be better than that.

But the real big money went on Mount and Hojlund and the performances those two served up were worrying, even ignoring the £130m combined transfer fees. It's famously said a certain standard is required of Man Utd players and Ten Hag has been eager to instil that, but what he saw from his two big captures will be of huge concern.

Hojlund played centrally in his preferred role while Mount was deeper but neither could affect the game positively.

This defeat was not a one off; this United side lost their last Premier League game at Old Trafford against Brighton. They are getting beaten by both better and more hardworking teams.

Sir Alex Ferguson clearly had the genius to survive his sticky spell, but can Ten Hag do the same?

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