Tottenham were excellent against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. Even before Bruno Fernandes was slightly harshly sent off on the stroke of half-time.
Against United's 11 men, the visitors were by far the better side and should have gone into the interval more than one goal up, scored by Brennan Johnson, but made by Micky van de Ven.
Against 10, Spurs were pretty comfortable, but for a ten-minute spell in which they allowed the home side to come onto them and give themselves a bit of hope. But in a season in which Spurs have not always got what they have deserved, Tottenham well and truly deserved all three points against United.
Ange Postecoglou's side had 24 shots in the match, creating nine big opportunities. United had 11 shots, with zero big opportunities created. It was pretty one-sided, all told.
Erik ten Hag has been under pressure for most of his time at Manchester United. Things have never clicked for him, despite winning two trophies - the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup - during his spell in charge of the Red Devils.
That pressure will not have eased this weekend. On the contrary, it will have ramped up on his shoulders.
Manchester United are a shadow of their former selves. Far from the United I grew up despising in the 90s because they were all-conquering. I am no longer nervous going to Old Trafford, it's not a place - or team - to fear.
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Spurs were on top from the get-go on Sunday and had they converted all of their clear chances - Timo Werner I'm looking at you - probably would have won 6-0 - it was that one-sided.
Gary Neville has said it before, that United have no set style, no familiar way of playing that you can attribute to ten Hag and his methods. And he's right.
Christian Eriksen openly admitted things were not rosey in the United dressing room after they drew 1-1 with FC Twente on Wednesday night in the Europa League. "Being said also in the changing room they looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right."
It was not a comment that went down too well and the Dane was benched for the visit of Tottenham. When he came on, he failed to impress, much like all of his teammates.
There is no direction, it seems at Manchester United, while, love it or hate it, there is a clear one under Postecoglou at Spurs. The Glazers took a lot of criticism under their stewardship and while they remain in overall control, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS now take care of football operations.
Ten Hag's future at the club is sure to be one they take immediate control of. United were looking for a new manager in the summer, but agreed there was no one available that would be able to do any better than ten Hag. That may well remain the case, but the Dutchman has been something of a dead man walking since then.
An insipid defeat to Tottenham will have only sped matters up behind the scenes. His future is highly precarious and you feel like he knows it.
Speaking after the loss to Spurs, ten Hag said: "It was no good. It's not possible that a player form the back can dribble through the whole team and then cross it. This can't happen. Then we lost a little bit of confidence and we were also poor in possession, we can do better there and the players know this."
The players can certainly do better, but they're not. Whether they're not playing for the manager, or they're just not getting the tactics or the philosophy, who knows. One thing is for certain: ten Hag is on borrowed time.
