A banner reading ‘Welcome to Hell’ and thousands of hostile supporters was the greeting Manchester United received when they landed in Istanbul to play Galatasaray in 1993. Thirty years later, they are back in the Inferno. And there are no visible escape signs.
Just when United thought their harrowing season could not get any worse, they found a whole new way to suffer in their shambolic 3-2 defeat at home to Galatasaray on Tuesday. They gave away three cheap goals, there was yet another Andre Onana howler, and a Casemiro red card. United supporters at Old Trafford also had to endure the sight of hundreds of Galatasaray fans infiltrating the home section as well as the Turkish club’s directors celebrating wildly.
Worst of all, United have no points from their first two Champions League matches and are bottom of their group after making their worst-ever start to a group stage. They are also enduring a shocking run of results in the Premier League, losing four of their opening seven games, including their last two home matches, against Brighton and Crystal Palace, respectively. For the first time, Erik ten Hag is starting to face questions about his future and the club is being forced to insist that they still back the manager.
Ten Hag’s job might be safe for now, but he should be concerned. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho were all sacked when they had more points per game than Ten Hag has right now, while they were also higher in the league table and doing better in Europe than the Dutchman, who is heading for a humiliating exit from the Champions League unless things drastically improve in their next four games.
The only consolation for Ten Hag is that the last manager to take fewer points than him at this stage of the season was Sir Alex Ferguson. The legendary Scot’s job was on the line after a 5-1 defeat at Manchester City in the 1989-90 season, and in December 1989 one fed-up fan held up a now infamous banner reading 'Three Years of Excuses And It's Still Cr*p – Tara Fergie'.
United resisted the urge to sack Ferguson then and were handsomely rewarded for their patience and faith. Now Ten Hag must convince the club's hierarchy he is worth trusting with turning their fortunes around.
GOAL looks at six ways the Dutchman can reverse United's decline and ensure he stays in the job...