Man United is a monster of mediocrity whose player culture has rotted to its arrogant, hedonistic core. The worthy approach would be to fire Erik ten Hag now, writes OLIVER HOLT

I hate to break it to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, but buying another pillow for Casemiro won't fix the problem. Making Antony wear electrically heated shorts won't fix the problem either. Manchester United are the sick man of European football and it will take a lot more than a few minor successes to get back on their feet.

Sure, they can tell a couple of office workers at Old Trafford that they can't have two seats together for the FA Cup final at Wembley later this month, and Ratcliffe can email about it like the IT department one needs, get all the headlines he wants Neat neat, but United are a club that needs a major operation, not a few Band-Aids to help with public relations.

I have been following United home and away for over 40 years. I was at the Platt Lane End at Maine Road in September 1989 when they were humiliated 5-1 by Manchester City, I was at Old Trafford in October 2011 when they lost 6-1 to City and I was at Anfield , as they lost 7-5. 0 to Liverpool in March last year.

These performances were embarrassing, but I have never seen a United team look more like a mob, a disorganized band of disconnected, disengaged, disinterested divas than they appeared on the TV pictures from Selhurst Park on Monday night. There are embarrassments and then there are the depths United are plumbing in south London.

The defeat meant United had lost 13 league games in a season for the first time in more than 30 years. It was a mismatch from the start. Palace are a team in the lower mid-table but they were so superior that it looked like they were playing for fun.

Manager Erik ten Hag's role was already under pressure, but calls for his resignation grew louder given his side's performance against Crystal Palace

Sir Dave Brailsford (left) and Sir Jim Ratcliffe (right) are ready to make changes this summer

Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise went above and beyond anything United had to offer, to the point where they started to show their skills early in the second half. It was like they couldn't quite believe how easy it was.

It looked a bit like a training exercise for Oliver Glasner's team. Actually, it was even worse. It looked like United had turned up thinking they were playing in a friendly. It looked like they had sent a veteran team to a Premier League game. Casemiro is one step further from this. I saw more athletic performances in walking football.

Ratcliffe, Brailsford and the rest of the gang at Ineos wanted control of football operations at Old Trafford as a condition of their minority shareholding and the Glazers, probably unable to believe their luck, were happy to give it to them. Now they have to do something with that control.

It's time for some tough decisions. By this no one means to get rid of Antony. This is not a difficult decision. It is also not possible to do without a large number of other players. Some people laughed at the story that most of United's squad was up for sale in the summer, but no one is laughing anymore.

Very few of the players who started the game against Palace are capable of playing in a team that could challenge for the title. Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo have the talent and the desire. Fernandes is also likely to be the focus of the rebuild. Furthermore, it is a short selection.

The harsh truth is that under Erik ten Hag, United are further away from returning to their glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson than ever before. Over the past 11 years, the club has been on a journey that has seen it repeatedly veer off course. This time it feels like it's an old clipper ship being torn to pieces on the rocks.

We might as well give up the pretense that Ten Hag will be at Old Trafford next season. They say United are the biggest club in this country and they are languishing in eighth place in the Premier League, playing like a team that is getting further away from the top, not closer.

Ten Hag has lost control. His recruitment – ​​Antony, Casemiro and Mason Mount in particular – was terrible. He has been extremely unlucky with injuries but has also been unable to improve the club's playing culture, which has rotted to its arrogant, demanding and hedonistic core.

Casemiro's performance in south London was more like a veteran's exhibition fight

Alejandro Garnacho (center) and Kobbie Mainoo (right) have been bright spots all too rarely this season

The hosts seemed to be conducting a training exercise, their control and flow of the game was so great

Antony (right) is one of Ten Hag's flagship signings – and a masterstroke in poor recruiting

Mason Mount failed to shine in his debut season despite being hit by injury

It's not all his fault. But the problem lies with the manager and after a promising start last season he has been out of his depth this season. Bruno Fernandes is the club's best player, but he was the worst choice Ten Hag could have made as captain. That also hurt the manager.

If Ratcliffe and Brailsford have decided that Ten Hag won't be at Old Trafford next season – and he isn't – then the most dignified and clean thing thing would be to end his reign now and not have him like him for the last three years to leave a dead man league games of the season and the FA Cup final.

Nothing United can do between now and the end of the final against City on May 25, no win against Arsenal on Sunday, not even a win against City at Wembley, will save Ten Hag's job, so it would be better to start now to quit Another false start for the club.

United should look at how tortured and protracted West Ham mishandled David Moyes' departure and resolve not to repeat the same mistakes. You could also examine how one of football's greats, Louis van Gaal, was treated in his final days at Old Trafford.

Van Gaal's impending departure was an open secret as United approached the 2016 Cup final against Palace. Everyone except Van Gaal seemed to be involved. United won the final and Van Gaal became angry at the post-match press conference when asked again about his future. He was released the next day.

Louis van Gaal's departure from the club was very poorly handled almost nine years ago

Steve McClaren, United's assistant coach, was offered the role of interim coach at short notice

Ratcliffe and Brailsford must stop dithering over Ten Hag's future at Old Trafford and instead start looking for his replacement

This kind of charade doesn't do anyone any favors. Former United stars Paul Scholes and Michael Owen both suggested Ten Hag should leave immediately after the Palace defeat. Steve McClaren, once Ferguson's number two and now on Ten Hag's staff, would be an obvious caretaker.

United must thank Ten Hag for his efforts and begin the search for a successor now. They need to hire a new manager as quickly as possible and work hard to inject some quality and character into a squad that is sorely lacking in both.

Ten Hag is not the man. Unfortunately, this has become obvious. He tried, but the monster of entitlement, complacency and mediocrity that Manchester United has become swallowed him up, as it has swallowed up so many others before him.

It's time for Ratcliffe and Brailsford to stop dithering. It's time they stopped worrying about which staff gets tickets to the cup final and more about finding someone who can build a decent team to play there.