Another Manchester United collapse. Will Erik the Hag save the struggling club?

Shock. Shame. Humiliation. That’s how one could describe the 30th round of the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United by the Red Devils, who gave an extremely poor performance and lost 0:4 to their old rivals. United did not score a goal. After another bitter pill, the fans are looking for a better tomorrow. The hiring of Dutch coach Erik ten Hag should be a done deal.

Manchester United came to Anfield with a very defensive line-up. Ralf Rangnick sent on a trio of stoppers. But even that didn’t stop Liverpool from scoring early. Sadio Mané sent Mohamed Salah sprinting with a long pass, who sent the ball from the first touch into the penalty area, where Luiz Diaz sent it into the net. The first failure of the Manchester defence. But not the last.

Symbolically, in the seventh minute of the match, the stands erupted in thunderous applause. Liverpool fans were showing their support for Cristiano Ronaldo, whose son died in childbirth. This was followed by Liverpool singing the national anthem for the Portuguese goalscorer, saying that he will never walk alone with hope in his heart. There are times in life when football rivalries have to go.

Liverpool continued their fine ride. He added a second goal in the 22nd minute after a collaboration between Mané and Salah. The Senegalese international addressed Salah with a beautiful curve pass and the Egyptian hitman, who rarely makes mistakes in such situations, increased the score to 2: 0.

After the change of sides, Liverpool slightly slowed down the pace and the visitors were getting chances. However, Marcus Rashford, facing Alisson, missed his chance and Anthony Elanga also got his teeth into the Brazilian goalkeeper’s shot. The team from the River Mersey confirmed the old football rule of you don’t give – you get and in the 68th minute, thanks to Mané, the difference was three goals.

It should be noted that Mané had enough space in the penalty area to score. Harry Maguire didn’t even try to make the Liverpool striker’s job difficult.

The visitors from Manchester drank their cup of bitterness to the dregs at Anfield. The fourth and final goal came late in the game, in the 85th minute. Diogo Jota crossed to Salah on the edge of the box, and he lobbed the ball to make it 4-0. Defending the situation, Maguire again fell asleep and did not send Salah offside, allowing him to score his second goal of the game.

At the same time, Maguire inadvertently set up the whole Liverpool action when he unintentionally passed the ball through the air to a new player on the pitch, 19-year-old Hannibal Mejbri, who was robbed of the ball by Liverpool and set up the action, at the end of which De Gea hunted the ball out of his goal for the fourth time.

Quo vadis Manchester United?

“It’s embarrassing. It‘s totally disappointing and in a way it’s also humiliating,” Ralf Rangnick said after the game about his team.

” We just have to accept that Liverpool are six years ahead of us. If we compare it to the team that Jürgen Klopp inherited six years ago,.

Rangnick, who replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the rest of the season, also points to a necessary rebuild. He thinks strengthening the squad is needed at every position except goalkeeper. He thinks that up to ten new players could come in.

However, rebuilding the team should already be a job for Rangnick’s successor, current Ajax manager Erik ten Hag. According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Dutchman’s engagement is virtually certain.

Former Manchester United player Paul Scholes thinks ten Hag should be given the necessary amount of time to reshape United in his image. “Finish eighth and give this man all the time he needs,” Scholes said on his Instagram post, which featured the Manchester United logo alongside ten Hag.

Only time will tell if that Hag will head to Old Trafford and if he will succeed.

Sources: Premier League, Fabrizio Romano, Paul Scholes