Manchester United’s troubles deepened on Saturday after a 3-1 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, a result that has piled more pressure on manager Ruben Amorim.
Brazilian forward Igor Thiago was the star of the show, netting twice in the opening 20 minutes.
He broke the deadlock in the 8th minute, timing his run perfectly to beat the offside trap before calmly finishing past Altay Bayindir. Twelve minutes later, he tapped in a rebound to make it 2-0.
United briefly sparked hope in the 26th minute when Benjamin Šeško pulled one back after a scramble in the Brentford box.
The turning point came in the 71st minute. United captain Bruno Fernandes stepped up for a penalty after Bryan Mbeumo was fouled, but Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher guessed right and saved his effort.
Deep into stoppage time, substitute Mathias Jensen rubbed salt in the wounds. Breaking free on the counter, he curled a shot from distance that flew past Bayindir to seal Brentford’s 3-1 win. The bees sting was deeply into the red devil's skin.
The defeat is a huge boost for Brentford, who now look forward with confidence. For Manchester United.
Just a week after a victory over Chelsea, the club has once again been dragged back into crisis mode, with Amorim’s future now under intense scrutiny as the international break looms.
One step forward, two steps back. Manchester United and Ruben Amorim are back in the doghouse after a dismal afternoon in west London. The result is really bad; the performance was worse.
United’s only legitimate complaint is that Nathan Collins should have been sent off after conceding a penalty when the score was 2-1. Bruno Fernandes’s penalty was saved after a five-minute delay; apart from that, United never really looked like equalising. Brentford were set up perfectly by Keith Andrews and did a number on a United side who are bereft of confidence.
Ruben Amorim’s reaction.
" We didn’t control the game. We played the game [that Brentford wanted]: really confused, second balls, set pieces and all the crucial moments were against us. It’s tough to lose the game but we have to think about the next game.
[Did you see fight from your team?] Yeah, in some moments. But we can do better, that is the main point.
The first goal was a long ball after a recovery. We worked on that in the week. We worked on set-pieces. We need to do better.
Today’s game was more or less always the same – we need to play our game, not the opponent’s game.
To lose at this kind of club, It hurts a lot. We need to think about the next one. Everything is important in this club, it’s just not the games at home or whatever. We need to win every game and we are not doing that."
