United's Most Embarassing Results

[Lentwood]

A Liverpool-supporting friend of mine messaged last night to say he was disappointed that Scott McTominay's late winner vs Omonia had saved us from our most embarassing result ever.

I quickly corrected him on that and pointed out we have had a tonne of far more embarassing results down the years!

So what do we think are our worst ever performances/results?

Context is important here, so sure, MK Dons is going to get plenty of mentions, but it was a League Cup game with an XI you could barely even call "Reserve".

So, in no particular order, a few that spring to mind...and it's far from exhaustive...

Midtylland 2-1 United (Europa League)

They were awful, we were even worse. I'm not sure I have ever seen a performance that inspired so much despair. Sure, we have lost by bigger scorelines but the levels of ineptitude against a very limited side was worrying in the extreme.

Burton Albion 0-0 United & United 0-0 Exeter (both 0-0, both FA Cup)

I don't think I need to explain why failing to beat non-League sides in the FA Cup makes the list...however...one little cool thing was my mate was 4th-choice GK for Burton at the time and came within a whisker of getting a spot on the bench at OT after two injuries.

Manchester United 0-1 Leeds (FA Cup)

Leeds were in League One at the time, OT was packed, atmosphere was brilliant and we let our old rivals beat us on our own turf. Did not help I was living with a big Leeds fan at the time.

Going to namedrop a few more quickly...others might fill-in the detail...Olympiakos under Moyes, Fenerbace under SAF, Zalaegerszeg under SAF, York City under SAF, Southampton 6-3 under SAF, Newcastle 5-0 under SAF, Everton under OGS, Brighton under Rangnick, Brentford under ETH

And, in terms of significance...Wigan 0-1 under SAF the Aguero year, Seville under Jose (prompted the 'eritage rant) and Villarreal under OGS

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I was more embarrassed at 1-6 vs. City or 0-5 vs. Liverpool. Getting dismantled at home to your biggest rival feels worse than a smaller team getting lucky or putting in a once in a lifetime performance to scrap a result.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I was more embarrassed at 1-6 vs. City or 0-5 vs. Liverpool. Getting dismantled at home to your biggest rival feels worse than a smaller team getting lucky or putting in a once in a lifetime performance to scrap a result.

Agreed. I think the Liverpool one last year is the worst for me.

 

[Counterfactual]

Wednesday 2nd May 1990
League Division One
Forest 4, United 0 after 25 minutes! (and that's how it ended)

 

[krazyrobus]

29 October 2005
Middlesbrough 4-1 Man Utd

Keane went on MUTV and absolutely slaughtered Rio and Fletcher which led to SAF terminating his contract.

 

[Raw]

Losing to Bristol City in the last minute in the League Cup 5 years ago felt so embarrassing to me. Had a pretty strong team too (Romero, Shaw, Rojo, Lindelof, Darmian, Pogba, Blind, McTominay, Martial, Ibrahimovic, Rashford) and we looked utterly shit against them.

 

[Oldyella]

I was more embarrassed at 1-6 vs. City or 0-5 vs. Liverpool. Getting dismantled at home to your biggest rival feels worse than a smaller team getting lucky or putting in a once in a lifetime performance to scrap a result.

Totally. In both of those games, it also felt like they eased off and took it easy on us which was even worse.

 

[Oranges038]

Newcastle 5-0.

The one where Phillip fooking Albert chipped Schemichel.

 

[Lentwood]

Losing to Bristol City in the last minute in the League Cup 5 years ago felt so embarrassing to me. Had a pretty strong team too (Romero, Shaw, Rojo, Lindelof, Darmian, Pogba, Blind, McTominay, Martial, Ibrahimovic, Rashford) and we looked utterly shit against them.

I must have erased that from my memory...have no recollection of that!

Losing 0-2 to Coventry at OT was bad...Michael Misfud got both I think

Also, losing 0-1 to Southend...Freddie Eastwood scored that free-kick...not good!

 

[McGrathsipan]

Embarrassing is not a phrase that should be applied to supporters.

Anger and disappointment yes absolutely but only players should be embarrassed by a shocking result

 

[Raw]

Totally. In both of those games, it also felt like they eased off and took it easy on us which was even worse.

Yeah that's definitely the worst aspect of it, when they're not even trying any more. Think there was a City win at Old Trafford quite recently, ended 2-0 to them. Could have easily been more but they sat back and conserved energy while taking the absolute piss out of us in our own backyard, as if we were a relegation threatened team. I'm so sick of us making it a training session for them.

I must have erased that from my memory...have no recollection of that!

Can't blame you! Just an utterly shit game that really put me in a bad mood

 

[Robbie Boy]

Anything from the end of Ole's reign when fans were singing Ole's at the wheel at every chance. Pick any game really.

 

[bringbackbebe]

0-5 to Liverpool last season. It was a wake up call to show far humiliatingly far both teams had drifted in different directions.

 

[Samid]

Totally. In both of those games, it also felt like they eased off and took it easy on us which was even worse.

How did City ease off? It was 1-3 until very late on when we got a man sent off and they took full advantage of that.

 

[Grande]

Embarrassing is not a phrase that should be applied to supporters.

Anger and disappointment yes absolutely but only players should be embarrassed by a shocking result

Tbf anger and disappoimted just as much reflect the madness of football fandom. Anyway, you can say all you want who should feel angry, disappointed or embarassed, but I suspect feelings are not gonna listen to you

 

[Remember the geese]

Pretty sure we beat Kosice and Debrecen comfortably.

 

[Raw]

How did City ease off? It was 1-3 until very late on when we got a man sent off and they took full advantage of that.

We were down to 10 at the start of the second half when we were already losing 1-0.

But yeah the scoreline definitely flatters them a bit. We scored a great goal to make it 3-1 near the end and decided to go full guns blazing for any hope of another, which gave them so much space to destroy us at the end. Wasn't like the 5-0 v Liverpool at all where they were cruising from the first minute.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

The Olympiakos 0-2 in the CL knock-outs comes to mind, we were absolutely awful in that game(even though we managed to beat them 3-0 at home)

 

[Grande]

I was more embarrassed at 1-6 vs. City or 0-5 vs. Liverpool. Getting dismantled at home to your biggest rival feels worse than a smaller team getting lucky or putting in a once in a lifetime performance to scrap a result.

1-6 v City was such a disappointment, seeing as we had had such a phenomenal league start (8-2 v Arsenal, 3-1 v Chelsea, two 5-0 wins too) and then completely crash landed. After that game Fergie sidelined Meulensteen and pulled the breaks Queiroz had brought us, it was the end of a short dream. Disappointing shock more than embarassing to me.

0-5 v Liverpool was worse. It was going from bad to worse, a total unravelling, and they spared us towards the end. That gave me a proper flushing.

1-6 to Spurs was bad, but there were so many anomalies to everything at that moment due to Covid, it didn’t feel too reflective of the teams status.

I think 3-6 against Southampton under Ferguson was a low point, we had just lost 5-0 to Newcastle (very embarrasingly), and the need for a rebuttal made it agonizing to watch Egil Østenstad and Eyal Berkovic wreak havoc on United’s defense, completed by a Gary Neville own goal in extra time. It was the grey invisibility suits that did it, supposedly … only we followed up losing 0-1 at home to Fenerbahce in the mid week. Torrid times.

 

[Agni]

The 6-1 to City hurts the most. Specially as they went on to win on goal difference which kicked off City's era of dominance.

 

[Offside]

Man United 0-3 York City. 1995.

 

[MUFC OK]

The seemingly countless lost penalty shootouts at OT in the League Cup/FA Cup in recent years.

 

[gormless]

I wouldn’t class anything under the Fergie era as embarrassing because it was likely a freak result where 9 times out of 10 we win or at least evenly matched (other than the Barca finals).

I think the Moyes Fulham game was embarrassing because it showed how out of depth our manager was, but overall the end of Ole’s reign probably had the most

 

[Lentwood]

Pretty sure we beat Kosice and Debrecen comfortably.

Yeah...my memory is failing me...I was thinking of Zalaegerszeg, who are also Hungarian. They beat us 0-1 in Hungary and we hammered them 5-0 at OT

I was thinking of Fenerbache, not Kosice. I'll also add Young Boys under OGS to this sh*t-list!

 

[Lentwood]

I wouldn’t class anything under the Fergie era as embarrassing because it was likely a freak result where 9 times out of 10 we win or at least evenly matched (other than the Barca finals).

I think the Moyes Fulham game was embarrassing because it showed how out of depth our manager was, but overall the end of Ole’s reign probably had the most

I tend to think the opposite personally...it's precisely because we were so good that it was 'embarrassing' when we lost to a vastly inferior side.

 

[Skills]

Nothing will ever top the 5-0 loss at home to Liverpool.

 

[hsbajwa316]

Liverpool last year was the worst and could (should have) probably been alot worse post sending off, I think they took the foot off the gas

 

[Remember the geese]

Yeah...my memory is failing me...I was thinking of Zalaegerszeg, who are also Hungarian. They beat us 0-1 in Hungary and we hammered them 5-0 at OT

I was thinking of Fenerbache, not Kosice. I'll also add Young Boys under OGS to this sh*t-list!

Oh yes, I remember Zalaegerzeg! The Fernerbache one ended years of being undefeated at Old Trafford in Europe didn't it? Blimey, I had forgotten about the Young Boys game! Only a year ago too.

 

[nojcarter]

Everton 4-0 a couple of years ago under Ole was really poor, I was embarrassed to watch that game with a few friends especially as the top 4 was still on the line then

 

[dwd]

Man United 0-3 York City. 1995.

This is what I came to say.

 

[Giant Midget]

We were down to 10 at the start of the second half when we were already losing 1-0.

But yeah the scoreline definitely flatters them a bit. We scored a great goal to make it 3-1 near the end and decided to go full guns blazing for any hope of another, which gave them so much space to destroy us at the end. Wasn't like the 5-0 v Liverpool at all where they were cruising from the first minute.

Pretty much lost us the league on goal difference too. If we'd shut up shop, Agueroooooo wouldn't have happened.

 

[Giant Midget]

Everton 4-0 a couple of years ago under Ole was really poor, I was embarrassed to watch that game with a few friends especially as the top 4 was still on the line then

That period where DDG basically made a big error every game and lost us top 4 single-handedly. Ole flat-out refused to play Romero too.

 

[Idxomer]

One that hasn't been mentioned is the game against Sheffield United at Old Trafford in 2021.

The team had a chance to keep applying pressure on City but played the whole game like they didn't care one bit about winning. They went on to concede one of the most hilarious goals to lose the game.

 

[RedIan]

Bournemouth when in the third division played Ron Atkinsons united in the FA cup. united lost 2-0. it was 31 years ago and i still recall the shock defeat.

 

[JinnerJamie]

MK Dons 4-0 Man Utd 2014 under LVG.

Last night was frustrating but not embarrassing their keeper played a blinder and their defenders John Terry'd everything else.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

MK Dons 4-0. Our team was a proper Frankenstein's monster but the result was dreadful.

The Sheffield United game in the FA Cup under LVG was one of the worst games I've ever seen, and we won with a 93rd minute Rooney penalty. This wasn't me but I was at the game and I felt like acting similarly:

 

[JeffFromHK]

Everton 4-0 a couple of years ago under Ole was really poor, I was embarrassed to watch that game with a few friends especially as the top 4 was still on the line then

The more embarrassing thing was that Ole rightly criticised the mentality of players after the game and said that some of the players there would not be at the team next season, but in the end, the only players sold from the Starting XI that game were Smalling and Lukaku, and the rest of 9 players - many of whom were known mercenaries with no fight, stayed for the next 3 seasons.

 

[Fully Fledged]

MK Dons 4-0 Man Utd 2014 under LVG.

Last night was frustrating but not embarrassing their keeper played a blinder and their defenders John Terry'd everything else.

I was going to add this one.

 

[MUW4Eva]

Man United 0-3 York City. 1995.

This, exactly this.....other results pale against this one, and this was the first one that came to my mind when I saw the thread title.

If we are talking more recent games, then getting beat by a poor Huddersfield side has to be right up there....

 

[tenpoless]

Nothing can beat 6-1 home against City.
Fergie and his troops were still there as well.