Brentford turn up the heat on dismal Manchester United in 4-0 humiliation

Manchester United are in crisis. There can be little doubt about that. Beyond the bare statistics of the worst start as a United manager in a century and presiding over the worst start to a Premier League season in 30 years, Erik ten Hag’s reputation is already tattered. He will need to be an exceptional manager, a man of considerable moral courage, to recover from this.

Beads of sweat on his bare head, the London sun beat down on the Dutchman as Brentford tore United asunder, gleefully taking them apart in the first half. It was as bad as anything produced in the dog days of David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, and far worse than any performance under Ralf Rangnick, the much-derided immediate predecessor. The wrongs of last season are leagues away from being righted. Too many misfits and transfer busts, and though fans may bay for clearouts and fresh blood, two of Ten Hag’s additions in Lisandro Martínez and Christian Eriksen played full roles in the disaster.

That United’s problems run yet deeper was reflected by continuing protests against the Glazer ownership in the away end, though the absentee Floridian billionaires were not on the pitch during the first two matches of the season. Neither did they pick a team that operated as uninterested satellites from each other. At Brentford there was plenty of blame to go around, and a snarling Cristiano Ronaldo was only too happy to level it.

The selection of Ronaldo was logical in the sense that United had nobody else fit and capable of playing as a striker. Picking someone who wishes to leave the club appeared somewhat less logical. At least there would be no repeat of his pouting on the bench, as seen last week against Brighton. Instead Scott