Manchester United’s woeful start to the season continued as they fell to an entertaining but messy 4-3 defeat to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, smashing various records in the process.
Erik ten Hag’s side, who have won just two of their opening five Premier League games, were 2-0 down by halftime thanks to goals from Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry either side of the half-hour mark.
They pulled one back from Rasmus Hojlund, only for Harry Kane to bury from 12 yards after a penalty was awarded to the hosts moments later.
United pulled another back from Casemiro, before Mathys Tel restored Bayern’s 2 goal advantage in the final ten minutes. However, they could not stop Casemiro heading home in stoppage time to leave the game with a far closer scoreline than the performances suggested.
In their defeat, they set a pair of unenviable records.
Erik ten Hag’s fourth defeat in six games across all competitions matched a start to the season not seen since the time of Ron Atkinson all the way back in the 1986-87 season, a tenure that would be ended midway through the campaign by the arrival of a certain Sir Alex Ferguson.
1986-87 – Manchester United have lost as many as four of their opening six games of a season in all competitions for the first time since 1986-87 under Ron Atkinson – the season in which Alex Ferguson would later take charge of the club. Harbinger. pic.twitter.com/UQf6MgWYlI
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 20, 2023
That matches a record set even further back, in 1978, the last time that the Red Devils conceded three times in three consecutive games.
3+ – Manchester United have conceded 3+ goals in three consecutive games for the first time since December 1978 under Dave Sexton. Messier. https://t.co/9OQ3iAPfxd
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 20, 2023
With Vincent Kompany’s Burnley up next, they would back themselves to end both of those dismal records, but with their current form it is far from a certainty.
The result against Bayern leaves United bottom of their group, though only a point behind Galatasaray and Copenhagn, who they will expect to beat in the coming weeks in a bid to make the knockout stages.
