What has gone wrong at Manchester United after new low in Crystal Palace defeat?

Manchester United’s poor second season under Erik ten Hag reached a new nadir in Monday’s shambolic 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

In the wake of the Red Devils’ latest humiliation, the PA news agency takes a look at what has gone wrong and what is to come over the coming weeks.

What is the situation at United?

The Red Devils are on course for their worst ever Premier League campaign and in danger of missing out on European qualification entirely. Ruled out of Champions League contention with four matches to spare, United languish eighth on 54 points following their 13th league loss of the campaign. They have never lost more in the Premier League era and only have three matches left to avoid setting competition records for their worst finish (seventh in 2013-14) and lowest points tally (58 points in 2021-22).

Hadn’t things been looking up under Ten Hag?

Ten Hag took over in the summer of 2022 after United had slumped home sixth in a campaign to forget that saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked and interim successor Ralf Rangnick flounder. The latter had said open heart surgery was required at Old Trafford, but that comment looked exaggerated as the former Ajax boss quickly turned things around. United ended their six-year wait for silverware by winning the Carabao Cup in February 2023, before finishing third in the league and runners-up in the FA Cup final. But this season things have unravelled.

What has gone wrong at United then?

Too many injuries and underperforming players in a side lacking the hallmarks of a well-coached team. United have suffered an eye-watering 62 different cases of injury or illness this term, with 11 first-team players unavailable for Monday’s trip to Selhurst Park. Normally reliable captain Bruno