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As he was applauded off in the most humiliating of fashions by Crystal Palace fans on Monday night, it won't have needed to be pointed out to Erik ten Hag that this was the nadir of his tenure.

There have been heavier defeats during his time in charge - a 7-0 loss at Liverpool a year ago being one of them - but few proved to be as deflating and as galling as this 4-0 turnover by Crystal Palace.

His future at Manchester United is now more precarious than it has ever been and even some of his most ardent supporters in the fan-base are growing weary as calls for change grow louder.

Mail Sport looks at the reasons life at United has unravelled for the Dutchman…

DECIMATED BY INJURY 

When Ten Hag - rather than if - is shown the door by United he will invariably point to the injury crisis he has had to contend with as his lead defence.

Bruno Fernandes, so often Mr Reliable, missed Monday night's game making it 64 cases of injury or illness that have caused a player to miss a game this season.

Ten Hag has had to contend for a lot of the season without Lisandro Martinez - his best centre back - and Luke Shaw - his best left back - while Rasmus Hojlund was sidelined just when he was enjoying a purple patch in front of goal.

Harry Maguire has been integral this season and yet he has gone down and is now in a rush to be fit for the FA Cup final. There is rotten luck and then there are 64 cases of injury and illness. Truly unprecedented numbers.

POOR RECRUITMENT 

What isn't going to be a mitigating factor for the Dutchman is his recruitment which, if you were being unkind, has been near-disastrous.

Nine of the starting XI at Palace were signed or promoted from the academy by Ten Hag, while Diogo Dalot has since been handed a new deal. Only Aaron Wan-Bissaka has totally preceded his tenure.

Antony has been a total disaster after arriving for £86million; Sofyan Amrabat's loan move has proven a misstep; Andre Onana's form effectively cost United a Champions League campaign, while Mason Mount, who arrived as Ten Hag's priority £60m midfield signing, made his first Premier League start on Monday night since October 7.

Ten Hag spoke last week about how he didn't land his top target in Harry Kane and has called on ownership to back him over the summer.

But having spent more than £400m already, this United side has never looked further from contending than it does right now.

NO TACTICAL IDENTITY 

Going into this season, on the back of a third-placed finish and a trophy in the cabinet, Ten Hag was bold in proclaiming how entertaining his side would go on to be.

'We want to be the best transition team in the world,' he said. 'We want to surprise.'

Instead they have looked scarily vulnerable defending any sort of transition coming back their way and look caught between philosophies in midfield, seemingly not knowing whether to press or drop, leaving gaping holes that are routinely exploited by opponents.

United have already conceded 55 goals in the Premier League this season - two shy of their record high from 2021-22 - and still have three games to play, while the 618 shots faced is a record high for the club.

Ten Hag's side are facing an average of 17.6 shots against per game. There is no structure, no rigidity to their set-up and they continue to invite opponents to score at will.

EUROPEAN HUMILIATION 

This still remains one of the biggest black marks against Ten Hag and United's players this season.

To finish a Champions League group that included Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen, who have a far smaller budget to play with, rock bottom was complete humiliation.

United had actually budgeted to reach the quarter-finals - Arsenal and Man City both made it to that stage before suffering elimination - and yet Ten Hag and his players were booed off at home after going out as the worst team in their group.

Officially Manchester United's worst Champions League campaign

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