The optimism that greeted Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival as owner has given way to even more disappointment, with Sunday’s defeat at Tottenham the latest example

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Covering Manchester United these days feels a little like being a character in Silent Witness: every week you end up writing a postmortem. Their Sunday defeat at Tottenham was an engaging if bitty affair that finished 1-0 largely because the low quality of defending on show was compensated for by the low level of attacking. It was fun in its way, but it didn’t feel a lot like Premier League football.

It also meant United dropped to 15th in the table, having won just four of 14 league games under Ruben Amorim. Under Erik ten Hag this season, United were taking 1.22 points per game; under Amorim that’s down to 1.00. Nobody was under any illusions about the scale of the task he was taking on, but four months after Amorim took the job it would be very difficult to identify any concrete signs of progress. There has been the resilience of the performance in the league at Anfield, in the FA Cup at the Emirates, and not a lot else.

Manchester United’s slump deepens, Ryan Christie inspires Bournemouth and David Moyes lets the good times roll

• Premier League top scorers | Latest table | Fixtures

Can winning a game that resembled two lurching drunks swinging at each other at closing time be regarded as vindication for Ange Postecoglou? Perhaps if Manchester United had a more mobile midfield and someone other than Rasmus Højlund at centre-forward – last goal at Plzen on 12 December – flanked by a winger in Alejandro Garnacho who last scored against Bodø/Glimt two weeks before that. It turns out Joshua Zirkzee – who has three goals in the league all season – is United’s most potent forward. The numbers point to this being United’s worst team in decades, and the only good news Ruben Amorim received on Sunday was 17th-placed Wolves’ defeat at Liverpool. Tottenham saw out a second successive Premier League clean sheet for the first time in 16 months but did so nervously. It will take much more than sketchily defeating a crashing clown car to prove Postecoglou’s pronouncement that the true Tottenham would reveal themselves once his injured players started returning. John Brewin

Match report: Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United

Match report: Leicester 0-2 Arsenal

Match report: Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle

Match report: Liverpool 2-1 Wolves

Match report: Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich

Match report: Fulham 2-1 Nottingham Forest

Match report: Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth

Match report: Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton

As Tottenham fans protest, Manchester United still look like they are learning tactics from a leaflet

There was a gripping moment before kickoff outside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as the Levy Out supporters’ march reached its final stop and a single protester stationed himself in its path holding up a Levy In sign, Tiananmen Square-style, a lone show of human will in the path of history.

The sign was snatched from his hand. But wait! He pulled out another one. A minor scuffle ensued. Police intervened. The marchers cheered, then milled off to their high-priced seats inside this spectacular mega-drome, monument to Levy’s commercial brilliance, there to watch their team take on Manchester United, the great ailing zombified giant of English football.

• ‘We need to stop focusing on big picture. Just next game’
• Maddison scores winner to ease pressure on Postecoglou

Ruben Amorim has insisted that he will “stick with my beliefs” after watching his injury-hit Manchester United side endure a 12th Premier League defeat of the campaign that leaves them 15th in the table.

A first-half goal from James Maddison, who celebrated by putting his finger to his lips in response to criticism he received last week from Roy Keane, sealed Tottenham’s first win at home in the Premier League since they beat Aston Villa here in November. On his return from injury, Guglielmo Vicario produced a brilliant save to deny an Alejandro Garnacho shot in the second half.

An opportunistic goal from James Maddison gave Spurs their first home victory in the league since early November

A reminder of the teams

Tottenham Hotspur (4-1-4-1) Vicario; Pedro Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence; Bentancur; Kulusevski, Bergvall, Maddison, Son; Tel.
Substitutes: Kinsky, Udogie, Gray, Bissouma, Sarr, Moore, Odobert, Johnson, Scarlett.

For Ange Postecoglou, the wait is finally over. On the same day that some Tottenham supporters voiced their displeasure at the chairman Daniel Levy before and after their first league win here since the start of November, Manchester United suffered their 12th defeat of the season courtesy of James Maddison’s first-half goal.

Rarely can a match between two sides who started the day in 14th and 15th positions in the Premier League table have garnered so much attention. But while Postecoglou was at last able to call on some experience off the bench to see out this vital victory, that will at least lift some of the pressure on his shoulders for a few days as his side moved up to the heady heights of 12th, by contrast United had to rely on the ageing Casemiro and a bench full of teenagers in an encounter that reflected the struggles of both sides this season.

• Manager admits job losses are ‘affecting the environment’
• Fresh blow as Amad Diallo ruled out for rest of season

Ruben Amorim has acknowledged he and the first team must shoulder the blame for Manchester United’s failings as a football club that have resulted in swathes of employees being made redundant.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the minority owner, is set to remove a further 200 staff roles at Old Trafford as part of cost-cutting exercises to address years of financial mismanagement and put them back on a firmer footing.

• Former players recall incident from game in 2003
• Van Nistelrooy: ‘It was a good rivalry, wasn’t it?

Martin Keown has apologised to Ruud van Nistelrooy for the notorious clash between the pair at Old Trafford in 2003 after they renewed acquaintances at Leicester on Saturday.

The TNT Sports pundit Keown was at the King Power Stadium to cover Leicester’s Premier League home fixture with Arsenal and caught up with Foxes boss Van Nistelrooy before kick-off.

• Jim Ratcliffe is making proposed cuts of 200 staff
• United currently employ up to 80 scouts globally

Manchester United’s department of about 80 scouts is facing considerable cuts as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s next round of up to 200 redundancies, the Observer understands.

The likely reduction is part of a streamlining of the department due, in part, to the industry-wide practise of utilising data-driven assessment of players. Christopher Vivell, the former Chelsea technical director who became recruitment director on short-term contract in the summer, is expected to be appointed on a permanent basis to head up the restructured operation.

Given the toxicity around Old Trafford, promoting players prospering in the youth ranks could be the answer

Manchester United are languishing in 14th place in the Premier League table, 15 points off the top four after Saturday’s games and 12 above the relegation zone with 14 games to play. It has been a miserable season for United fans, whose side are in ­desperate need of a spark.

The perennial source of hope and pride at United has always been its academy. Ruben Amorim has been understandably cautious to promote untested youngsters of late given the red-hot toxicity around Old Trafford in recent weeks, but there is a shifting sense that United’s thriving youth ranks could give them a significant boost this season.

Three months after club predicted an annual profit of up to £160m, more job losses are pending to tackle financial crisis

When Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority investment in Manchester United was announced on 24 December 2023, many fans thought it an early Christmas present. Presented as a locally born lad and lifelong fan, he was a multibillionaire and was putting some of his hard-earned (but not hard-taxed) money into the club.

Ratcliffe’s investment gave him control of the football operation and in the mind of many fans the post-Ferguson slump in major trophies was coming to an end. Enterprising Mancunians started selling Muga (Make United Great Again) baseball caps, the club defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final and the good times were about to roll again … until they didn’t.

Billionaire’s sprawling business empire faces financial woes as easy earnings from petrochemicals have receded

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire chemicals magnate behind Manchester United, is a man who likes a beer. He considers this important enough to include in the eccentric mission statement pictogram he devised to “capture how Ineos works, and why”.

The Ineos Compass, which he devised in 2022, includes a dizzying array of words and phrases, divided between those that Ratcliffe likes (“a beer”, “out of the box thinking”, “doggedness”) and those that he doesn’t (“politics”, “losing money”, “people who get on the bus”). If there are clues to Ratcliffe’s vertiginous rise and recent troubles they might be here.

• ‘Team briefing’ set for Monday 24 February
• Statement says ‘club must explore every option’

Manchester United will hold a meeting on 24 February with staff to discuss “media reports”, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new round of up to 200 redundancies expected to be on the agenda.

On Friday evening, all employees received notice, via email, of the “team briefing”, which will take place at 2.30pm on Monday 24 February. On Tuesday it emerged that Ratcliffe is to cut as many as 200 employees, having previously made 250 redundancies in the summer and autumn.

The dream of sharing expertise across six sports, hoping to be supreme in all, was always likely to be a high-wire act

Five and a half years ago, Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos swept into OGC Nice with a mission statement. “We have a plan in place and we will follow it,” read one of the billionaire’s quotes amid a press release that outlined how the Ligue 1 club would become a regular player on the European scene. “I am adamant we will not be the dumb money.”

It is one of the earliest usages, in the context of sports investment at least, of a phrase dear to Ratcliffe. “Dumb money” is exactly what it says: injecting funds without genuine insight or expertise into the relevant industry. A few months later Ratcliffe deployed the same term speaking about Manchester United, who were at that point a twinkle in his eye, with specific reference to a £47m transfer fee spent on Fred by the previous regime.

Welington can beef up Saints, Ola Aina returns to SW6 and Raheem Sterling has the chance to roll back the years

• Premier League top scorers: Golden Boot race standings

It may have taken Brighton’s record signing a few months to settle in but the performance of Georginio Rutter in their thrilling FA Cup victory over Chelsea showed that the Frenchman was worth the £40m they paid Leeds in the summer. A brilliant header to equalise before setting up Kaoru Mitoma’s winner gave Fabian Hürzeler’s side the confidence boost they needed after their 7-0 mauling at Nottingham Forest, with Rutter justifying his manager’s decision to leave João Pedro on the bench. Rutter – who has seven goals in all competitions – did not start a Premier League game in January after struggling with a hamstring problem and Hürzeler has been mindful of protecting the 22-year-old, although he will be itching to face Enzo Maresca’s side for the second time in six days. “There were a lot of personal duels and he proved that he can win the majority of them, and that’s why I’m happy with him,” said Hürzeler. Ed Aarons

Southampton v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Time will tell if the Ineos chief’s severe cost-cutting pays off, but this is a club that has been mismanaged for years

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making drastic cuts to Manchester United’s operation for fear that the club are on a fast-track to bankruptcy. Whether such seismic concerns are legitimate or unfounded, it reflects a tale of off‑field financial woe that matches the club’s 12 years in the title‑contending wilderness.

The failure to reel in a 21st championship or make a genuine challenge for one is a direct corollary of slow decline and mismanagement under Malcolm Glazer, and then his six children after his death in 2014.

• Co-owner feels finances left him with little choice
• Action designed to make United profitable in two years

Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes his ­decision to cut about 200 more jobs at ­Manchester United is necessary to help the club avoid going bust, the Guardian understands.

The minority owner is said to feel he has little choice other than to take tough measures after United lost £300m over the past three years, but he is confident that acting now can lead to the club being profitable and highly competitive in two years’ time.

Ratings agencies downgraded outlook for Ineos Group to ‘negative’ as tycoon’s sporting interests also hit crisis point

Sir Jim Ratcliffe faces growing concerns over the financial health of his chemicals empire as its debt pile is forecast to reach almost €12bn (£10bn) this year and his sporting interests including Manchester United and New Zealand rugby hit crisis point.

Two leading credit ratings agencies raised red flags over the Ineos Group weeks before it emerged that the billionaire industrialist would make another 200 redundancies at Manchester United and allegedly cut sponsorship payments to the All Blacks rugby team, blaming “the deindustrialisation of Europe”.

• Club has posted losses of more than £300m in three years
• Patrick Dorgu the sole arrival in January transfer window

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will make another round of about 200 redundancies at Manchester United, part of a bid to counteract the club’s £300m loss over the past three years.

While Ratcliffe cut around 250 staff in the autumn, he has made the decision due to the club’s stricken finances. United employees are yet to be contacted formally by management regarding their jobs potentially being in danger, but it is believed they are braced for this to occur.

• Sir Alex Ferguson led tributes to Law at funeral
• Former United forward died aged 84 last month

Sir Alex Ferguson led the tributes to Denis Law as football greats paid their final respects to ‘the King’ in Manchester on Tuesday.

An exquisite footballer and a brilliant man, the much-loved former Manchester United and Scotland forward died aged 84 last month. Law remains the only Scottish player to have won the Ballon d’Or and no man has scored more goals for the national team. Sir Kenny Dalglish is joint top with him on 30 goals and was among the mourners as Law was remembered in the heart of the city on which he left an indelible mark.