Pick whatever reason you want for why Manchester United fired Erik Ten Hag this week, and it likely has some validity. His teams averaged fewer points than Louis van Gaal's United teams (and averaged fewer with each progressive season), scored fewer goals than Jose Mourinho's and gave up more goals than David Moyes' . He seemed to have conflicts with more players than he actually developed. He suffered 10 losses of at least three goals, including five at Old Trafford in the last year and a pair of 3-0s in September.
The timing itself was honestly a bit odd -- they could have sacked Ten Hag over the summer but instead got wooed by a sparkly FA Cup run and signed him to a brief extension, only to fire him during an unlucky run of finishing form. United's new ownership seemed to acknowledge this summer that the squad itself was the No. 1 issue at hand and that until they got further down the road on rectifying that, the manager didn't matter quite as much. Two months into 2024-25, they said, "Actually, no, it's his fault after all." It makes you wonder if they're looking at the right criteria.
Regardless of the whys and whens -- his permanent replacement, Ruben Amorim, is already lined up and ready to go -- Ten Hag's gone, and whoever's in the dugout (caretaker and former United forward Ruud Van Nistelrooy has the gig until Nov. 11) has some immediate flaws to address. Through nine league matches, Manchester United has its worst record, worst goal differential and fewest goals of the Premier League era.
However, they're not the only major European club struggling to meet expectations at the moment. While it's easy enough to explain why certain upstart clubs like LaLiga's Girona or Serie A's Bologna have taken solid steps backwards this season after qualifying for the Champions League -- they got picked apart by larger clubs in the summer transfer window -- while others have disappointed for less obvious or justifiable reasons.
Let's look at eight particularly disappointing teams in 2024-25, headlined by an awfully obvious one.