Premier League: 'We need to look ourselves in the mirror', Manchester United's crisis deepens after West Ham defeat

Manchester United have been going from bad to worse in the 2023-24 season, and things reached an all-time low ahead of Christmas when the ‘Red Devils’ suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday. The two teams were goalless at halftime, only for Jarrod Bowen (72’) and Mohammed Kudus (78’) to score in a space of six minutes in the second half and help the Hammers register their second victory on the trot and their third in four outings. United currently sit at the eighth spot on the Premier League table, well outside the top six that are guaranteed a place in one of the three continental competitions — the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. They have won just one match in their last seven outings across competitions and have failed to score in four consecutive outings for the first time since 1992. The defeat against West Ham on Saturday also happened to be United’s eighth in what has turning out to be one of their worst seasons of all time. The defeat has also under-fire manager Erik ten Hag’s job in further doubt and his days at the Old Trafford appear numbered, with the possibility of him getting fired over the winter appearing stronger than ever. United defender Luke Shaw, for one, did not mince words and said the ‘Red Devils’ needed to look at themselves in the mirror after their 13th defeat across all competitions before Christmas — a first in over 90 years. “This is Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world. It’s not good enough. We know that and we have to dig deep, look ourselves in the mirror and question ourselves and go from there," Shaw said.

Ten Hag, however, maintained a brave face after the loss and urged his side to “stick together” in the face of adversity. “In 2023, we won a Cup, we played the FA Cup final, we were third in the league. There were highlights but we are over-performing, but in this moment we are underperforming. There are reasons for it, we have many injuries, so the team will be better if the injured ones return. “We have to be calm, stick together, stick to the plan, we have to do it together,” Ten Hag said after the game. The Dutchman additionally felt United’s display against Liverpool, where they held the 2019-20 champions to a goalless draw, was an indicator of the fact that this team had it in them to turn things around in the remainder of the season. “At this moment we are not top, but we have seen last week against Liverpool we were head-to-head. We didn’t score, we had the best opportunities of the game. “There we defended very well for 90 minutes. That has to be always our standard like what we did there. You have to bring that to every game on the pitch,” the former Ajax boss added.