Just how far can Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United fall?

Bruno Fernandes did not play in Manchester United’s visit to Crystal Palace on Monday, making it the first match he has missed through injury in his 520-game club career.

Fernandes is not thought to tire. Across 230 appearances for United over the past four years, he has been the rising tide that has kept many leaky boats afloat. This was the first game he’d been absent from since the goalless draw with Liverpool last December (for which he was suspended).

The United captain was a doubt pre-match but the prevailing view was that he would find a way to get out there and carry his team again. While others have wilted in the harsh environments of United’s 2023-24 campaign, Fernandes was typically the one who did not wither.

This time, he could not make it. Fernandes had finally run out of lives.

In his absence came an abject team performance in a United season that has struggled to produce a convincing one.

The most defiant response to the many Palace attacks came not from Erik ten Hag’s players but from the away supporters, who chanted club songs even after their side went 4-0 down.

United were soft in the middle, vulnerable out wide and limp up front. A starting midfield of Christian Eriksen, Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount offered a facsimile of Fernandes’ application, but they could not replicate the creative energy or running effort of their captain.

United’s issues were further compounded by more changes to the back line.

Casemiro and Jonny Evans made up Ten Hag’s 14th different centre-back combination in the Premier League this season and survived only 12 minutes before conceding — a fantastic dummy from Michael Olise gave the Brazil international midfielder twisted blood on the way to the French winger scoring the opener. Neither Eriksen nor Mainoo retreated quickly enough to stop Olise and Ten Hag’s reshuffled defence was too late in responding to the hole that emerged when Casemiro was left floundering.

Palace’s front three were confident and eager to attack a back four low in familiar playing rhythms.

Their second of the game came from Jean-Philippe Mateta merrily skipping by Evans before emphatically shooting past Andre Onana. Second-half goals from Tyrick Mitchell and Olise added insult to injury.

Daniel Munoz’s body check on Casemiro in the build-up to the fourth underlined the gap between the two sides: Palace were stronger, faster and more certain of themselves.

Ten Hag’s team has now conceded 81 goals in all competitions this season (United’s most since 1976-77). This game — the worst defeat United have suffered in the current campaign — is the 21st occasion on which United have conceded three goals or more during the Dutchman’s 21-month tenure.

“We let each other down and (when that happens) you get the worst defeat,” was the United manager’s assessment.

Ten Hag looks unsure of the skills that made him so impressive a season ago and is struggling to conjure any form of coherency from his squad.

United were outthought and outfought for the entire evening. Oliver Glasner’s setup saw Palace overwhelm their visitors in central areas before looking to get the ball to Olise and Eberechi Eze, stretching United’s defenders out wide. Those two toyed with United’s back line while Ten Hag’s attackers could only toil in response.

The absence of the formerly ever-present Fernandes and the quietly revitalised Harry Maguire should not have led to such a dramatic collapse, yet United appeared bereft of ideas or identity. The plan Ten Hag wants his players to carry out appears beyond several members of this squad. It also appears to be a plan with limited effectiveness, even on its better days.

“It was quite easy to see that they were better with the ball than without it,” was the opinion of one Premier League analyst when describing this iteration of United before last night’s match.

Ten Hag called his side “one of the most dynamic and entertaining” teams in the Premier League earlier this month, but it is the neutral observer or the famed ABU (Anyone But United) adversaries who are most thrilled when watching this team permit counter-attack after counter-attack.

The 4-0 Selhurst Park drubbing made for United’s 13th league defeat of the season — their most since 1989-90. Since January 1, no club have conceded more shots in Premier League play than United (317).

A team that started the campaign with ambitions of re-establishing themselves as a Champions League-level side have not been in the top four once. They now look likely to either finish in the Europa Conference League place (sixth) or fail to qualify to play European football in 2024-25 at all.

United now have a Premier League goal difference of minus three. They have not finished with a negative goal difference since that 1989-90 season (when they finished 13th, five points clear of relegation), but it is hard to predict which of their remaining fixtures will yield the right performances to dig themselves out of this hole.

What is known for sure after last night is that United will end this season with a lower points total than the 64 earned in the disastrous 2013-14 campaign played mostly under David Moyes.

Despite this list of concerning statistics, Ten Hag believes he is the best person to get United out of this difficult predicament.

“If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad — but we missed the entire back line,” he said. “All season, we had huge injury problems. This is the fourth defeat this calendar year (in 20 matches), which is not a lot.

“I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could. It was not good enough… it was not good enough by far. I take responsibility, but I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday (when title-chasing Arsenal go to Old Trafford).”

The depth and variety of ailments United have suffered this season have made it hard to enact his preferred tactical plan, but Ten Hag’s inability to change from his desired “script” has hastened a slide down the table.

The result is an organisation lurching towards rock bottom, unsure of how to halt the descent or how much further they have to fall.

Manchester United’s remaining Premier League games: Sunday, May 12 — Arsenal (home); Wednesday, May 15 — Newcastle (home); Sunday, May 19 — Brighton (away).

(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)