This might have been much worse for Erik ten Hag as the game ticked past a total of 100 minutes, although escaping from Bournemouth with two equalisers and a single point will have told him that the fall continues to be steep.
When the 19-year-old centre-half Willy Kambwala fouled Ryan Christie in the 95th minute it needed the intervention of VAR to downgrade a Bournemouth penalty to a free-kick. The fine margins of where contact took place saved the French teenager on this occasion, but who or what can save Manchester United?
The Ineos director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, now effectively running United as a football operation, watched in the stand on the same row as Harry Redknapp, a former Bournemouth manager who shocked the world in 1984 by beating United in the FA Cup. A different Bournemouth now and a new world for United.
The supremacy they once took for granted is gone and in all corners of the Premier League they are encountering shrewd clubs and clever managers. Andoni Iraola got the better of Ten Hag in the first half at least. Twice the home team led, and finished with 19 attempts on United’s goal, on target and off. United had two attempts on target and both were goals for Bruno Fernandes, whose ability in certain moments covers many of the team’s failings.
Iraola would say later that the penalty denied to his team by VAR Jarred Gillett should have stood, even if the foul began outside “it is obvious it continues … inside.”
As for Ten Hag, the answers get no easier. “We give all we can but I am also realistic,” he said. “When the full squad was there, we still could have high belief but we will keep fighting also with the players who are available. You see high potential. But also young players make mistakes … they have proved they can compete with the best teams at the highest level. But they have to do it consistently. That’s the next step for young players.”
Fernandes can still influence games but it is hard when United are dismantled in defence as they were more than once in the first half. Christie, and Dominic Solanke, who scored the first for Bournemouth, were the game’s outstanding players. The latter got his 17th of the season, a record for a Bournemouth goalscorer in the Premier League. It was Justin Kluivert’s goal that exposed the weaknesses in United’s right side.
He strolled through the gap between Kambwala and Diogo Dalot on 34 minutes. Kambwala pointed at something. Dalot flapped his arms in frustration. The Dutchman ran into the space and finished with his right foot at the near post. “There was a big gap and Kluivert should never have got the ball there,” Ten Hag said later. He would, he said, “repair” the right side of his team at half-time.
He took off Alejandro Garnacho whom Ten Hag said had trained just once this week. Harry Maguire picked up an injury in the first half, the United manager said, and Kambwala is there through sheer necessity. Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans are still injured. Three draws and one defeat from their last four league games is dismal, and Ten Hag was pointing to the injuries as the key problem.
There was little doubt that his side were outplayed in the first half. They equalised after the break with a penalty for a handball against Adam Smith that the defender could do little to avoid. United are seventh in the table which would equal their worst Premier League finish. Iraola would later warn that big clubs were always a threat and compared United in that respect to his experiences playing Real Madrid. It certainly felt a bit of a stretch given the last 11 years.
It had been a blistering first half from Bournemouth. They pressured United from the very start with a formation that came with all sorts of clever flexes including an early job for Marcos Senesi chasing from central defence deep into the midfield to put pressure on. It was the Argentinian centre-half who won possession for the first of two first-half goals.
Kambwala had a hard time dealing with Solanke’s confidence and power. This is a striker in quite some form. It is an indication of how high the bar is for England currently that Solanke has not had a chance with Gareth Southgate’s squad.
It was Kambwala’s misfortune that he slipped over when Solanke gathered possession in the 16th minute. Once Kambwala was on the floor there was no one else in the same post code as Solanke. He could pick his spot and swung with his right foot to dispatch a shot well out of Andre Onana’s reach.
United did equalise after the half hour, although by then they had taken a lot of punishment. Fernandes struck with the second of two chances when Bournemouth’s defence was overwhelmed down its left side. Fernandes would later score the penalty that brought United level a second time. Ten Hag says he would not give up on Champions League qualification but it still feels just a matter of time before he does.