Would people under 23 have performed better?

Former Premier League defender Jamie Carragher believes Manchester United's Under-23 team could have done better than their experienced seniors in their 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

United were soundly beaten by 18 shots and seven at Selhurst Park.

Palace had 36 touches of the ball in the United penalty area, while the Red Devils only managed 16 in the Eagles penalty area.

Carragher told Sky Sports: “No Manchester United team should lose 4-0 to Crystal Palace. I understand the injury issues, but Manchester United's U23 players are trained, have gone through the academy and learned how to play. I think if.” Manchester United's U23s played Crystal Palace tonight and still wouldn't have lost 4-0 tonight.

“This is one of the worst-coached teams in the Premier League, that’s a fact. Ten Hag needs achievements, he needs faith.”

The defeat added pressure to Erik ten Hag, who now has 13 league defeats to his name this season, the club's worst record since 1989/90 when they lost 16 times.

Asked if he could turn things around, Ten Hag told Sky Sports: “I will keep fighting and I prepared the team as best as I could, but it wasn't good enough, not nearly good enough. I have to take responsibility for that, but I will bring energy and get them ready for the game on Sunday.

“We have had big problems all season and this is now the fourth defeat this calendar year. So it's not much, and every time we had big problems and often we managed. We didn't make it today.”

Tuesday's newspapers were not particularly kind to Ten Hag or his team.

“United plummet to a new low,” says the Daily Telegraph. The Mirror goes to “Torn to pieces” and the Express plays with words about United's nickname, starting with “Shred Devils”.