18 Most Embarrassing Man Utd Defeats Since Sir Alex (Ranked)

Key Takeaways

• Manchester United’s recent defeat against Tottenham highlights their decade-long decline from the formidable force under Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure.
• Losses to Everton, West Brom and Bristol City have further exposed United’s weaknesses.
• Even with world-class managers like Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and Erik ten Hag, United’s humiliating defeats continue to mount.

Manchester United have become increasingly familiar with the bitter taste of defeat over the last decade, often tipping into the humbling realm of humiliation. It’s clear that United are a pale imitation of the formidable force constructed during Sir Alex Ferguson’s 27 years in charge and Erik ten Hag is the latest manager who looks set to fail to follow in the Scotsman’s footsteps.

The Dutch coach is hardly the only successor to stumble in Ferguson’s shadow. Every single permanent United manager since the legendary figure’s retirement has suffered at least one chastening loss.

From dismal cup exits to toe-curling European defeats, there is plenty of competition to feature in the unhonourable reel of United’s failings since 2013. Here are the most embarrassing defeats since Ferguson announced his retirement more than 10 years ago.

Ranking factors

Factors taken into consideration when ranking these defeats are as follows:

• Margin of defeat – The scoreboard has the biggest sway over the conclusions drawn from any game.
• Opponent quality – Getting turned over by a struggling side or a team from outside the Premier League adds to the pain.
• Embarrassment inflicted – Some losses can be courageous, but these are invariably calamitous.

18 Manchester United 0-1 Everton

Sir Alex Ferguson chose David Moyes to be his own successor in the Manchester United dugout and it’s fair to say that decision backfired. Moyes looked out of his depth for almost his entire time in charge and a painful reminder of that was when his old club Everton came calling to Old Trafford and earned their first win at the ground in 21 years thanks to a late Bryan Oviedo goal. The reverse fixture in April, which ended in a 2-0 win for the Toffees, was the final nail in the Scotsman’s coffin and saw his 10-month reign come to an end.

17 Manchester United 0-1 West Brom

The 2017/18 season is actually one of United’s more successful of the last decade as Jose Mourinho guided the club to second place in the table, which he later called one of his greatest achievements in management. An indication of what the Portuguese meant came towards the end of the season when bottom-placed West Bromwich Albion earned only their fourth win of the campaign thanks to Jay Rodriguez’s strike.

Mourinho sourly dubbed his players “masters in complication” just one week after they came from behind to sensationally defeat Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. To twist the knife further, United’s loss against West Brom mathematically confirmed City as Premier League champions.

16 Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United

Manchester United’s defence of their League Cup crown ended in humiliating fashion at the quarter-final stage in 2017. A seemingly routine trip to face second-tier Bristol City was anything but, as Joe Bryan gave the hosts the lead early in the second half.

A crisp Zlatan Ibrahimovic free-kick soon levelled things and the game looked to be heading to extra-time before Korey Smith sealed a famous win for the Robins in the dying embers, prompting wild scenes of jubilation at Ashton Gate. Even United boss Mourinho couldn’t begrudge the Championship side their moment of glory, sincerely hailing it as “a beautiful day for football”.

15 Chelsea 4-0 Manchester United

Jose Mourinho’s first return to Chelsea as Manchester United boss in October 2016 stung. Almost a year after he was sacked by the Blues during a disastrous campaign, the gulf in quality between his new side and the team inherited by Antonio Conte could not have been clearer.

Chelsea romped to a 4-0 victory, taking the lead through Pedro within 30 seconds of the opening whistle. It all got too much for Mourinho who accused his Italian counterpart of trying to humiliate him by over-celebrating his side’s goals, sparking a lasting feud between the pair. The Stamford Bridge crowd taunted their former boss with a chant of: “You’re not special anymore.”

14 Young Boys 2-1 Manchester United

Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League group stage in 2020 and were desperate not to repeat such a degrading exit the following campaign. As a result, their fans will have been fearing the worst when they fell to a shocking defeat against Swiss side Young Boys in their first group game.

The Red Devils were given a 13th-minute lead by Cristiano Ronaldo before the match took a dramatic shift when Aaron Wan-Bissaka received a first-half red card. While Young Boys scored twice, sealing a famous victory in the fifth minute of stoppage time, United mustered only two shots all game – the fewest in any Champions League match since 2003 according to Opta.

13 Brighton 4-0 Manchester United

Ralf Rangnick’s role as interim manager of Manchester United was intended to create a period of stability after a poor start to the season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It didn’t turn out that way. The Red Devils ended the campaign in even worse form, culminating in a catastrophic 4-0 loss away at Brighton & Hove Albion which marked United’s fifth consecutive defeat away from home.

The humbling reverse on the penultimate day of the season also mathematically confirmed that the club could not qualify for the Champions League. Rangnick was hardly going overboard when he described United as “just not good enough”.

12 Huddersfield Town 2-1 Manchester United

The 2017/18 campaign was one of the more successful for Man United in recent memory. It took the northern giants nine matches to suffer their first Premier League defeat, but it came in humbling fashion as they slumped to a loss away at newly promoted Huddersfield Town.

The Terriers had scored just one goal across the previous two months but raced into a 2-0 half-time lead against United thanks to strikes from Aaron Mooy and Laurent Depoitre. Marcus Rashford’s effort in the 78th minute offered little consolation as the Red Devils lost to one of the worst teams in Premier League history.

11 Chelsea 4-3 Manchester United

There were 99 minutes and 17 seconds on the clock as Manchester United led Chelsea 3-2 at Stamford Bridge in April 2024. Somehow the visitors ended up losing. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, United capitulated at the conclusion of a wild contest, handing Cole Palmer two goals in the space of 82 painful seconds.

Ten Hag’s side had performed a miraculous comeback of their own in the first half, overturning a two-goal deficit with strikes from Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes. Garnacho nodded United into the lead with a quarter of the game remaining, but that left Chelsea and Palmer with plenty of time to have the last laugh. After converting his second penalty of the evening in the 100th minute, Palmer was criminally unmarked at a corner to blast Chelsea back in front.

10 Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham

“Is there a fire drill?” Tottenham Hotspur’s boisterous travelling fans asked as Manchester United fans filed out of Old Trafford after the visitors had belatedly made it 3-0. Erik ten Hag’s beleaguered outfit had been reduced to 10 men for the entirety of the second half following Bruno Fernandes’ unwise lunge on James Maddison shortly before the interval, but the team’s performance with 11 players was perhaps even worse.

United had three shots to Tottenham’s 12 in the first half and were mightily fortunate to only trail by a single goal – even if Brennan Johnson’s opener came at the end of a humiliating attempt at collective defending as Micky van de Ven charged, unchallenged, from his own half into United’s box before squaring for the Welshman. An increasingly exasperated Gary Neville on commentary lambasted the opening 45 minutes as “absolutely disgusting”.

9 Everton 4-0 Manchester United

The Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reign got off to an extremely positive start but as soon as the Norwegian was given the gig permanently, things began to deteriorate. United failed to win any of their last five matches of the 2018/19 season, suffering the most humbling defeat of this bleak sequence at Goodison Park.

Everton knocked four past the Red Devils without reply in intense Easter Sunday sunshine. It reached the point where United’s supporters were ironically cheering their players stringing several passes together – a telltale sign that the honeymoon period was a thing of the past. Solskjaer felt compelled to apologise to the travelling fans. “They’re the only people with the badge on today who can hold their head high,” he sighed.

8 Watford 4-1 Manchester United

Despite overseeing numerous embarrassing defeats, Solskjaer managed to complete two full seasons in the United dugout before things finally came to a head in the first half of the 2021/22 campaign. A humiliating 4-1 reverse away to a Watford side destined for relegation spelt the end of the Norwegian’s reign. He was sacked the following day.

Goalkeeper David de Gea grimly described the match as “nightmare after nightmare after nightmare”. It also served as a fitting depiction of United’s darkest moments since Ferguson’s retirement. The Spanish shot-stopper saved a first-half penalty from Ismaila Sarr but could only stem so much of the tide as United wilted at Vicarage Road.

7 Brentford 4-0 Manchester United

Erik ten Hag is the latest managerial saviour to arrive at Old Trafford and there was plenty of optimism at the beginning of his tenure. Supporters were quickly brought down to earth after watching their side get outclassed at home by Brighton on the opening day of the season before things got a lot worse in their second match, away at Brentford.

The Bees relentlessly carved through Ten Hag’s disorganised outfit and found themselves 4-0 up after just 35 minutes. The Dutchman must have breathed a sigh of relief that they seemed to mercifully take their foot off the gas after that.

6 Manchester City 4-1 Manchester United

The first Manchester derby after Ferguson retired was the match that arguably marked the moment the balance of power in the city officially swung the way of United’s deadliest rivals. Manchester City had earned several impressive derby victories since Sheikh Mansour’s riches came in, but this particular demolition helped them on the way to their second Premier League title.

City’s ecstatic crowd serenaded United manager David Moyes, sarcastically praising Ferguson for his choice of successor. United slumped to their lowest-ever league position of seventh under Moyes during that season of contrasts. The Red Devils have finished below their noisy neighbours in every single campaign since.

5 Crystal Palace 4-0 Manchester United

Erik ten Hag’s obdurate optimism in the face of his side’s dismal performances was finally punctured by a night to forget at Selhurst Park on the first Monday of May 2024. United’s 14th different Premier League centre-back combination of the season was torn apart by a Crystal Palace side whose burst of good form had taken them up to the heady heights of 14th in the table.

After grimly watching Casemiro thrash around without any sense of direction or purpose alongside the 36-year-old Jonny Evans, Ten Hag admitted: “Today we were easy to beat.” Michael Olise certainly encountered few obstacles while bookending the rout with a pair of startlingly easy goals in a 4-0 thumping.

4 MK Dons 4-0 Manchester United

The Dutch coach Louis van Gaal had failed to win either of his first two matches in charge of Manchester United by the time his side travelled to face third-tier MK Dons in the second round of the League Cup in 2014. If the Dutchman thought this match would be a good opportunity to get his first victory on the board, he was sorely mistaken.

The Dons tormented a young, inexperienced United side and earned a 4-0 win to mark the most famous night in their relatively short history. MK Dons had spent less than £500,000 constructing the team that conquered United on the same day Angel Di Maria’s arrival at Old Trafford was announced. The Argentine earned £560,000 every fortnight.

3 Manchester United 0-5 Liverpool

Any Liverpool fans reading this list for a chance to engage in some schadenfreude must have been wondering when their name would come up. The Merseyside Reds tore their rivals apart in October 2021, marking Man United’s heaviest-ever defeat at home in the fixture and the first time they had conceded five at home without reply in a competitive match since 1955.

Mohamed Salah scored the final three goals of the 5-0 rout, becoming the first Liverpool player to bag a hat-trick at Old Trafford since Fred Howe’s treble in 1936. Salah is the all-time top scorer in the long history of this famous fixture.

2 Manchester United 1-6 Tottenham Hotspur

This is the only entry in this list that took place during lockdown, which at least spared any United fans from watching their team crumble live in the flesh. On a bizarre Sunday, in which Liverpool were also thumped 7-2 at Aston Villa, the Red Devils shipped six at home to a Tottenham side managed by Jose Mourinho, who certainly enjoyed his return to Old Trafford.

At the time, it was United’s biggest-ever defeat since Sir Alex brought an end to his managerial career. Bruno Fernandes gave the hosts a second-minute lead, but Spurs equalised within 200 seconds and had elbowed themselves in front by the seventh minute.

1 Liverpool 7-0 Manchester United

Less than 10 years before this fixture, when Manchester United were easing to their 13th Premier League title under Sir Alex Ferguson, no one could have foreseen just how much they would one day capitulate at Anfield. The two great rivals contested an even first half, with Liverpool going in at the break 1-0 up, but early in the second half, it was clear the United players did not have the stomach for the ruthless Anfield atmosphere and the Reds were merciless in exploiting that fact.

Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all helped themselves to braces. Roberto Firmino also got to score in his final clash with the Red Devils, who suffered their worst-ever defeat in the 128-year-old fixture.

Stats via Transfermarkt.