The year is 1972 and Manchester United have just been battered and bruised by Crystal Palace, demolished 5-0. The consequence? The sacking of Frank O'Farrell.
The year now? 2024 and Manchester United have just been smacked from pillar to post by the Eagles again. This time it was a 4-0 rout for Oliver Glasner's side. The hope among the Old Trafford faithful will no doubt be that Erik ten Hag is given his marching orders by Sir Jim Ratcliffe tomorrow morning, just as O'Farrell was all those years ago.
This has been a wretched old campaign for United who have suffered 13 losses in the Premier League. That is the joint-worst record of any Red Devils team. Coincidentally, their 18 defeats in all competitions is their most in a single season since 1977/78. Yeah, it's a pretty grim campaign, isn't it?
So what's next? Well, it feels as though INEOS will be left with no other choice but to give Ten Hag the boot. Yes, he had to travel to Palace with just one fit central defender but there is no excuse for the performance levels we saw in the capital on a wretched Monday night.
This was Ten Hag's worst moment yet. United have already been sliced apart at will this season but this was undoubtedly the nadir of his reign. If the Dutchman thought things couldn't get worse, they certainly can.
The arrival of Ratcliffe in the last few months should have been the dawn of a new era but it feels as though he needs to tear things apart at the seams and start again.
Ten Hag must go, so must plenty of the playing staff. Casemiro was dribbled past eight times, the highest tally in a Premier League match this season. His fellow Brazilian Antony was hauled off on 60 minutes having had one of United's two shots on target but not doing a lot else.
Casemiro was forced to start owing to a lack of defensive options but why the latter continues to start beggars belief. The same could be said for a certain Christian Eriksen.
Christian Eriksen's performance in numbers
As United personality Mark Goldbridge declared on social media during the game, the Dane was rather "terrible" at Selhurst Park. Harsh? Possibly. Either way, he was one of the worst culprits on Monday evening.
Branded with a quite frankly appalling 1/10 match rating by the Manchester Evening News' Samuel Luckhurst, Eriksen trudged off the pitch at full-time a sorry figure.
A first-half free kick that hit the wall was about as good as it got the former Tottenham man who put in a rather Spursy performance. Okay, we're sorry, low blow. It must be said, however, that United cannot continue to rely on their ageing crop.
Casemiro, aged 32 and Jonny Evans, aged 36, certainly looked way past it. The likes of Michael Olise, Ebere Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta ran a mockery around the veterans but 32-year-old Eriksen was no better.
Luckhurst declared that 'Eriksen should not have been out there and he was off the pace for both first-half goals'. Not the harshest words but it was damning indeed.
Minutes played
90
Touches
68
Accurate passes
45/55 (82%)
Key passes
2
Crosses
3/3
Shots
1
Dribbles
0/1
Duels won
0/3
Possession lost
14x
Tackles
0
Interceptions
0
The Danish midfielder's display was perhaps best summed up by the stats. He lost all three of his contested duels, failed to complete his one and only dribble and lost possession of the ball on 14 occasions, once nearly every five touches.
So often we have seen this tremendous technician put in elegant performances in the Premier League but today was a sad day. Hardly helped by his teammates, it was a sign that come next season, he should no longer be at the club. Neither should plenty of others in the visiting team on Monday.
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