They say that when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. But Manchester United fans have learned that that is simply not true; even when you think that things couldn’t possibly get any worse, they can and often do.
Ruben Amorim had promised Red Devils’ fans after their worst season in 52 years that the good time were coming, but three matches into the new campaign and the club appear to be sinking even further into the abyss, especially after Wednesday’s shock elimination from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Grimsby Town of League Two.
It marked only the second time that United had been knocked out of the League Cup in the second round in 30 years, and it was arguably the worst defeat of Amorim’s dismal nine-month spell in charge. And yet it was just one of many abysmal results inflicted on the club in the last 25 years.
BALLGM ranks the worst defeats United have endured in all competitions in the 21st century…
They say that when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. But Manchester United fans have learned that that is simply not true; even when you think that things couldn’t possibly get any worse, they can and often do.
Ruben Amorim had promised Red Devils’ fans after their worst season in 52 years that the good time were coming, but three matches into the new campaign and the club appear to be sinking even further into the abyss, especially after Wednesday’s shock elimination from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Grimsby Town of League Two.
It marked only the second time that United had been knocked out of the League Cup in the second round in 30 years, and it was arguably the worst defeat of Amorim’s dismal nine-month spell in charge. And yet it was just one of many abysmal results inflicted on the club in the last 25 years.
BALLGM ranks the worst defeats United have endured in all competitions in the 21st century…
Despite the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Ryan Giggs, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils were unable to overpower Manchester City. Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team beat United on home soil in the second week of the campaign, but the defeat at Old Trafford the following February was particularly painful.
The match came just days after the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, but Ferguson’s team fell behind through goals from Darius Vassell and Benjani. Michael Carrick scored late on for United, but they were unable to rescue a point.
The wheels had well and truly fallen off under Ralf Rangnick by the time United made the trip to Brighton near the end of the 2021-22 season. Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard all scored in the first hour at the Amex Stadium as the Red Devils were crushed by Graham Potter’s team.
They went on to draw with Chelsea and lose to Crystal Palace in the final two games of the season as they scraped to a sixth-placed finish in the top-flight.
If losing 4-1 away to City in the third week of the Premier League season wasn’t bad enough, David Moyes’ spell in charge got even worse when the Red Devils were hammered by their noisy neighbours on home soil. Edin Dzeko opened the scoring in the first minute before adding a second just before the hour mark while Yaya Toure then completed the destruction towards the end.
City went on to win the title while United finished in seventh place, and Moyes went on to say that his team must aspire to be at their cross-city rivals’ level, an assertion that did not go down well with United’s fans.
It was all going so well when Cristiano Ronaldo put United ahead after 22 minutes at Old Trafford. The fun did not last long, though, as Fernando Torres equalised before the half-hour mark. Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena then completed the turnaround and the humiliation, as Liverpool claimed a 4-1 win at Old Trafford.
The Reds beat United twice in the league that season as they kept them under pressure in the title race, but in the end the Red Devils finished four points clear and lifted the Premier League trophy yet again.
Erik ten Hag’s first Champions League group-stage game at Old Trafford should have been a great occasion, but it soon unravelled into a nightmare. Rasmus Hojlund twice gave United the lead, but each time they threw it away through diabolical defending and a shambolic display from Andre Onana, who in the second half passed the ball straight to Dries Mertens, leading to Casemiro giving away a penalty and getting himself sent off.
Mauro Icardi missed the spot-kick but made amends minutes later to sink United as hundreds of Galatasaray fans rubbed salt into the Red Devils wounds by wildly celebrating the winner from the home section of the stadium. And no wonder: it was the Turkish giants’ first win on English soil in 11 attempts. United’s ludicrous defending made it possible, and the defeat led to them finishing bottom of their group.
United had been unbeaten in their three trips to Spain in 2022-23, but they fell victim to Sevilla‘s mystique in the Europa League. In a scorching cauldron of noise at the Sanchez Pizjuan in this quarter-final second leg, which began with the tie level at 2-2, Sevilla crushed United with targeted pressing while David de Gea endured his worst performance in a United shirt.
A suspect ball from the goalkeeper to Harry Maguire allowed Morocco World Cup hero Youssef En-Nesyri to score the first, while De Gea was badly caught out of position for goal number two. The worst was still to come for the Spaniard, who badly mis-controlled a long ball, sending it straight to the feet of En-Nesyri, of all people, to make it 3-0.
Although they went on to win the Europa League for a record-extending seventh time, this was far from a vintage Sevilla – they had been battling against relegation in La Liga and were on their third manager of the season. United, though, were no match for them.
To be fair to Erik ten Hag, his side travelled to Crystal Palace with a squad that was down to its bare bones. The substitutes’ bench comprised five unproven teenagers and two goalkeepers while the back four featured a right-back playing at left-back and a 14th different centre-back pairing of the season – one of whom was a midfielder and the other a 36-year-old who had spent the previous summer training with the youth team. Bruno Fernandes also missed a match through injury for the first time in his career.
But even given the makeshift team, United committed basic errors in their worst display of the campaign and their second-worst of the Ten Hag era. They let in the first goal following a throw-in, leaving acres of space in midfield for the second, while Casemiro rounded off a harrowing night by gifting Michael Olise a fourth. Afterwards, Jamie Carragher urged the Brazilian to quit United to save embarrassing himself again, telling the serial-winner “leave football before the football leaves you”.
It was United’s heaviest defeat of the 2023-24 season and saw them set an unwanted club record of 13 Premier League defeats in one campaign. But it was exactly what Ten Hag deserved for persisting with the team’s open style despite having so many veterans on the pitch.
United had the opportunity to undo the damage that had been done on at Old Trafford in October 2011 when they visited their city rivals in the third-last game of the campaign. All did not go according to plan, however, as it was Roberto Mancini’s City side who broke the deadlock.
David Silva’s corner came sailing into the United box where Vincent Kompany jumped highest to meet the ball and head it past David de Gea. The goal sparked wild celebrations from the hosts and proved enough to secure the three points, putting City within touching distance of a first Premier League title 1968.
Erik ten Hag’s reign at United could hardly have got off to a worse start. After going down 2-1 at home against Brighton on the opening day of the campaign, they were run ragged by Brentford just six days later.
Within 20 minutes, the Bees were 2-0 up, before Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo added two more to complete the rout before half-time. The defeat put immediate pressure on Ten Hag, but his side bounced back with an impressive 2-1 win against Liverpool the following week.
Louis van Gaal’s tenure had promised so much after a dream pre-season, but it all unravelled when the real thing began, with United losing their first Premier League game of the season at home to Swansea City before drawing at Sunderland. Things got even worse for the Dutchman in his first League Cup outing against MK Dons, United’s first-ever fixture against the team controversially created and relocated at the expense of Wimbledon.
With a young Dele Alli pulling the strings in midfield and future football cult hero Will Grigg firing in attack, the League One side utterly destroyed United, making it clear that Van Gaal had a mammoth task on his hands. At least the manager could point to the fact that he had fielded a weak team featuring debutants such as Saidy Janko and Reece James, who never played again for the club.
It all started so well. After just two minutes, Bruno Fernandes had fired Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team into a 1-0 lead against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham at Old Trafford.
It did not last, though, as Tanguy Ndombele levelled matters almost immediately, and three minutes later, Son Heung-min put the away side in the lead. After Anthony Martial was sent off before the half-hour mark, Son and Harry Kane went on to finish the game with two goals each while Serge Aurier also got in on the act as Spurs headed back to north London with three points and big smiles.
Being drawn to face an in-form side three divisions below them in the second round of the Carabao Cup still shouldn’t have spelled trouble for Ruben Amorim’s side after a poor Premier League start, but that it did highlighted the issues still facing the Red Devils at the start of the 2025-26 campaign.
Amorim did not name a first-choice line-up but it still cost over £400 million. Grimsby Town, however, played the 20-time English champions off the park, going 2-0 up by half-time thanks in part to two clangers from Andre Onana in his first start of the season.
Grimsby had two more goals ruled out before United bullied their way back into the game with a strike from Bryan Mbeumo and a late header from Harry Maguire. Making it to a penalty shootout was no safe haven, however, especially with Onana in goal. The hapless Cameroonian could only save one of the 13 shots he faced from the spot as Matheus Cunha and Mbeumo (in the second round of kicks) missed, leaving United to suffer their earliest Carabao Cup exit in 11 years and one of their most embarrassing results of all time.
United were off to a respectable start in the 2021-22 campaign, but it soon came crashing down when they were beaten by Aston Villa, drew with Everton and then were bested 4-2 at Leicester City. The run went from bad to worse in late-October, though, when Liverpool paid a visit to Old Trafford.
Within five minutes, the visitors were ahead through Naby Keita, and Diogo Jota made it 2-0 not long afterwards. Mohamed Salah then chipped in with a hat-trick, giving the Reds a five-goal cushion after just 50 minutes.
While Liverpool went on to challenge for the Premier League title – losing it to Man City by just one point – while this result proved to be the beginning of the end for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United, and they could not recover following the Norwegian’s sacking the following month.
In the end it proved to be a gripping title race that culminated in one of the greatest moments in Premier League history, but for Manchester United fans, the 2011-12 season brings up some horrifying memories.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s reigning champions started the season with an eight-game unbeaten run, only to see that bright spell crushed as they were annihilated 6-1 at home by Manchester City. Mario Balotelli got the party going for the visitors with the opener after 22 minutes, unveiling his famous ‘Why Always Me?’ shirt in celebration, before United’s hopes of fighting back were dashed when Jonny Evans was sent off.
Balotelli doubled the lead on the hour mark before City then smashed another four goals past David de Gea in the last 30 minutes, with Darren Fletcher scoring a consolation for the home side. The defeat was particularly damning for United as City went on to win the Premier League title on goal difference.
United had put in a decent performance for the first 40 minutes of the visit to Anfield, but they crumbled in spectacular fashion after Cody Gakpo scored the opening goal shortly before half-time. Darwin Nunez added a second just two minutes into the second half, not long before Gakpo dinked in his team’s third.
Mohamed Salah then bagged two goals of his own to become his team’s all-time top scorer in the Premier League, while Nunez netted his second and Roberto Firmino rounded off the scoring to complete United’s biggest-ever league defeat.
