The nine moments which shaped Erik ten Hag's Manchester United reign

Erik ten Hag has gone. His reign was a strange one, marked by embarrassing collapses, two trophies and false hope.

These are the nine moments that defined his time as Manchester United manager, for good and bad.

Brentford, August 13, 2022: Lost 4-0

Ten Hag’s first away game as Manchester United manager followed a shock home defeat to Brighton on the season’s opening weekend. An even bigger surprise unfolded in west London, with his team four goals down after 35 minutes.

United conceded four times to four different Brentford players over a 25-minute period, with new defender Lisandro Martinez castigated as much as established goalkeeper David de Gea. This defeat was the seventh in succession on the road — United’s worst run since 1936. Ten Hag really did inherit a dispirited mess, but he also got off to an appalling start.

The following day in training, he made his players run 13.8km (just short of nine miles) — and joined them — which was the distance Brentford collectively ran more than United during the game.

Liverpool, August 22, 2022: Won 2-1

After losing the opening two league games of the season to Brighton and Brentford, the mood was toxic around Old Trafford for the visit of Liverpool. Serious protests against the Glazers, the American family who own the club, set the mood, plus a smaller one against keeping on Mason Greenwood. Inside the stadium, Casemiro was unveiled after signing from Real Madrid.

After the turnstiles were locked down with thousands of fans still outside, Jadon Sancho (remember him?) put United 1-0 up after 16 minutes, before Marcus Rashford netted the first of his 30 goals that season to double the lead.

United wouldn’t lose a single league game at home for the rest of the season as Ten Hag made Old Trafford a fortress. Away defeats would be turned into wins too, with this match against Liverpool the turning point.

Manchester City, January 14, 2023: Won 2-1

After a 6-3 derby defeat at City in the October, United won seven and drew two of the next nine in all competitions until a loss at Aston Villa. Following that game, they won nine on the bounce — the final one being this return fixture against City.

When Jack Grealish put City ahead after an hour, their fine recent record at Old Trafford looked set to continue. But a Bruno Fernandes goal after 78 minutes followed by Rashford’s four minutes later changed all that.

Ten Hag often pointed back to this win as an example of what his United side could do when at full strength. That team — De Gea; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia; Fred, Casemiro; Christian Eriksen, Fernandes, Rashford; Anthony Martial — doesn’t look full strength when written down, but it felt like one that day.

February 2023

The whole month, which was Ten Hag’s best as United manager, saw six wins and two draws from eight games. It wasn’t only statistically impressive, those victories included one at Wembley against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final.

Such was the expectation from both sets of fans, black-market tickets were trading at twice the prices of ones for the all-Manchester FA Cup finals in 2023 and 2024 as a first trophy in six years came to Old Trafford.

Also that month, after beating old rivals Leeds United away, United played Barcelona twice. That arguably two of the three biggest clubs in the world met in a play-off to decide who would advance to the second-tier Europa League’s last-16 showed the decline in fortunes for both, yet the games didn’t disappoint, with United finally eliminating the Catalans in a European tie.

Barcelona manager Xavi privately told colleagues that getting knocked out helped his side win La Liga that season as he didn’t feel the squad was strong enough to compete on two fronts, while United fans got excited by the prospect of a European trophy.

But then everything turned…

Liverpool, March 5, 2023: Lost 7-0

Some United fans arrived at work the Monday after this match to be handed cans of 7UP by gleeful colleagues. Meanwhile, the players were at the Carrington training ground by 9am for a debrief on what would be the worst scoreline of Ten Hag’s time in charge, and United’s heaviest defeat at Anfield.

He had already publicly called his players “unprofessional” — about the strongest criticism a manager can give. It certainly was a bad day, right from when Wout Weghorst touched the This Is Anfield sign in the tunnel, which is not a good look from a United perspective.

It was a freak result, even Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said that, but 7-0 is 7-0 and Ten Hag’s side had shown that when they were down, they were there for the taking.

The following month, United let a 2-0 home lead against Sevilla slip away in a quarter-final they somehow ended up losing 5-2 on aggregate, eliminated from the Europa League by its eventual winners.

Nottingham Forest, December 30, 2023: Lost 2-1

Ten Hag’s second season wasn’t going to plan. United kept playing Forest. Having not faced them at all from February 1999 (that 8-1) to December 2022, the sides then met seven times in 14 months. Ten Hag’s side won six of the seven, but the other game was the lowest point of year two under him.

True, the Dutchman was without 11 players at the City Ground for the finale of a sickening month where United were defeated five times. They hadn’t lost five games in a December since 1933, when they were at the wrong end of the second division.

Ten Hag’s men were flatter than the neighbouring River Trent, and this defeat also marked a wretched end to a calendar year that had started so brightly.

That December also saw United exit the Champions League early after one win from the six group games — an epic failure — while after the loss at Forest, Ten Hag’s team sank to seventh in the Premier League. Getting back into the Champions League places from there looked improbable.

Chelsea, April 4, 2024: Lost 4-3

A fantastic, farcical Stamford Bridge thriller between two fallen giants. The visitors started well but were losing 2-0 after 19 minutes, with the second coming from Mancunian childhood United fan Cole Palmer.

Then United started to play beautifully, scoring twice in five minutes through Alejandro Garnacho and Fernandes to be level at half-time. Garnacho’s second of the game made it 3-2 after 67 minutes, and Antony was having his best game for the club. Surely the team who struggled to defend leads could manage to see this one out?

After 90 minutes, it was still Chelsea 2 United 3. After nine minutes of added time, it was the same.

It’s bafflingly inexcusable, but Chelsea then scored twice, both by Palmer, in the 100th and 101st minutes.

Manchester City, May 25, 2024: Won 2-1

United upset the odds by defeating Pep Guardiola’s newly-crowned Premier League champions in the FA Cup final. That two teenage academy graduates, Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, were the goalscorers brought ever more satisfaction — with the latter’s goal to make it 2-0 at half-time a culmination of the best team move of United’s season.

There were further bonuses that came with Ten Hag becoming the only United manager to win a trophy in each of his first two seasons: denying City successive doubles and securing continental football, in the 2024-25 Europa League, after an eighth-place league finish the previous weekend left them on the outside looking in.

In polls after the final, 80 per cent of United fans wanted Ten Hag to stay.

West Ham, October 27, 2024: Lost 2-1

After a wretched start to the new season, mid-table United needed a win last Sunday and started like they were going to get one, creating chance after chance at the London Stadium.

It wasn’t the first time Ten Hag’s team had played well in the first half of an away game but failed to capitalise on their performance. The same thing had happened at Brighton and Crystal Palace. True to that pattern, West Ham improved in the second half and went 1-0 up.

United, who had lost all the structure they’d played with during the first half, did equalise, but then conceded a late penalty to a controversial refereeing decision.

Defeat left the team 14th in the 20-club table, with just four wins from 14 games in all competitions and only eight goals scored in their nine Premier League fixtures.

Ten Hag lost his job the next day.