Man Utd analysis: Erik ten Hag sacked after loss to struggling West Ham

It was more of the same as Erik ten Hag and his miserable Manchester United team fell 2-1 at West Ham on Sunday, with the Dutchman finally getting the sack on Monday morning.

The Red Devils looked to have found their mojo during a one-sided first half, but they were made to pay for their profligacy as the hosts nicked a stoppage-time victory and with it ended Ten Hag’s stay in Manchester.

Three days before the 50th anniversary of The Rumble in the Jungle, it was VAR that dealt the knockout blow to a beleaguered Ten Hag courtesy of a baffling penalty decision from the video vandals in Stockley Park.

The much-maligned Dutchman has been on the receiving end of punch after punch during a topsy-turvy tenure at Old Trafford - Sunday was no different and now he is gone.

Here, Sports News Blitz’s Robert Bore offers a post-mortem examination of the loss that proved to be the final straw in Ten Hag’s troubled tenure.

More misery for the Red Devils

United failed to convert a plethora of chances in the opening 45 minutes and were then given a real game by an improved Hammers after the break.

But the defining moment came after referee David Coote was called over to the monitor by 'eye in the sky' Michael Oliver who decided his colleague had made an error as Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings clashed in the box.

It was neither clear nor obvious that Coote's on-field 'play-on' call was wrong but, after 20 views of a single camera angle, he had a crisis of confidence, agreed with Oliver, and awarded the spot kick that allowed Jared Bowen to snaffle all three points.

The result was yet more capital punishment for the northerners, who have now won only twice in their last 18 league visits to London, and leaves them in a scarcely believable 14th in the Premier League table and without a manager to boot.

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Bright first half for Ten Hag and his troops

Strangely, it had all looked so different as United went for the Hammers from the first whistle.

Less than two minutes in, Alejandro Garnacho curled a fierce effort against the woodwork before dragging another wide soon after with United in total control. Rasmus Hojlund then went close, Bruno Fernandes headed over, and the screw was turning.

West Ham were playing deep, there was no press - often United's Achilles’ heel - and Fernandes looked focused while Garnacho continued to cause problems.

It wasn't completely one-way traffic though, even if it felt like it. Aaron Wan-Bissaka grew in prominence with those spidery legs striding down United’s left-hand side and Lucas Paqueta had their first chance with a header over the top.

But United kept coming and should have finally broken the deadlock when Diego Dalot was played in by a delicious Fernandes ball. The young Portuguese lifted the ball over the onrushing Lukasz Fabianski then inexplicably lashed it wide of the gaping goal as his composure evaporated. Dalot doing Dalot things.

Next, a defensive header brushed the bar as United came again and Fabianski saved well from Casemiro. The home goal remained charmed.

Ultimately, the opening 45 minutes should have been a statement of intent. Instead, it was a sad indictment of Ten Hag's season, which is now over.

Fernandes in particular could not have been happy. While a constant threat, he tried one too many quarterback balls. Dalot's blooper, however, was Exhibit A. If there is a worse miss this season, I’ll eat my hat - f**k it, I'll eat next door's cat as well. It was truly awful.

In the end, it was a case of all the hard work being done but with no end product - Manchester United encapsulated in one moment.

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Second half sinks United

Unsurprisingly, the home side made a triple change at the break. This included Crysencio Summerville, who would break the deadlock 16 minutes from time by angling in scruffily at the far post after Ings had mis-hit Bowen's low centre. It was more bad luck for United.

Whether it was deserved or not is open to debate as the hosts were indeed much better, but Garnacho had, moments earlier, almost emulated his goal against Brentford last week and Hojlund had stung Fabianski's palms with a fierce shot. United were still kicking.

It was Garnacho's poor ball to Fernandes that was ultimately punished by the former Leeds man with his first goal of the campaign.

Really, if it wasn’t so horrifically predictable, it would be funny.

In a game that really should have been over at the break, Ten Hag’s men were staring down the barrel again. And it was hard to throw any muck at the manager this time, even if he would be made to fall on his sword less than 24 hours later.

The footballing gods, perhaps mindful that they were driving anyone from Old Trafford to despair pretty much on a weekly basis of late, did reshuffle their deck and allow United to level with Casemiro on hand to redirect substitute Joshua Zirkzee’s header past Fabianski.

This was followed by Noussair Mazraoui being forced off with what looked like a knee injury as the gods shuffled again.

As the end approached, however, their final hand was revealed to be a stinker. This time they laughed as they shuffled, loudly and straight in every United fans’ face. If the penalty was any softer, it would have been made of marshmallow and slowly roasted on a stick.

Bowen duly stepped up and beat Onana to his left. Ten Hag was rightly furious. And his side had only a dozen injury-time minutes to find another equaliser.

It was not to be - and now the Ten Hag era is a thing of the past.

As George Foreman found to his cost almost half a century ago, rope-a-dope can work. But United are no Muhammad Ali.

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