Four things we learnt as Man United take two steps back in Brentford loss | OneFootball

Manchester United travelled to London to take on Brentford in the Premier League this Saturday lunchtime.

Altay Bayindir continued in goal while Luke Shaw, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire started at the back.

Patrick Dorgu was named the left wing back while Diogo Dalot returned from injury to replace Amad.

Manuel Ugarte came in for the suspended Casemiro and started alongside Bruno Fernandes.

New signings Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo started together for the first time as an attacking trio.

Here are four things we learnt from the match.

United all at sea defensively

The Red Devils have been defensively suspect for a long time but the selection of Maguire and De Ligt was intended to help deal with Brentford’s sizeable long ball threat.

Sadly from a United fan’s perspective, it didn’t make a jot of difference.

Maguire was in no-man’s land, stranded from the rest of his defensive line as Igor Thiago raced through and finished smartly.

Ruben Amorim’s side were also fortunate to not concede more from long throws and corners as the Brentford attack seemed completely free to do damage at will.

The host’s second goal was another catastrophic series of missed chances to clear and just underlines the problems the team need to solve to be truly competitive in this league.

Sesko opening strike

In more positive news, Sesko scored his first goal for the club to halve United’s deficit.

He started the game nervously and misplaced simple passes with the pressure clearly getting to him.

That all changed though after 26 minutes when the Slovenian showed good striking instinct in the box to slam home United’s goal from close-range. As a result, he looked a lot more assured thereafter.

United supporters will be hoping he can now push on and be the number nine that the club so desperately needs him to be this season.

Bryan Mbeumo quiet on his return

The Cameroonian gave six seasons to the home side but finally moved on this summer to Old Trafford.

Mbeumo has been one of the club’s most impressive performers this season but he struggled to make much impact against his former side.

Clearly a little affected by the occasion, he failed to spark his usual raids down the right hand side and did not have any real chances on goal in a quiet afternoon.

His usual pinpoint crossing was also well off its usual standard with numerous balls floating out of play aimlessly.

The performance was in stark contrast to his fine effort versus Chelsea last weekend as he was well defended by his former teammates.

Owing to his quality, he still won the penalty that United won in the second half due to a clever run into space which resulted in him being dragged down in the box. Sadly, Fernandes spurned the giant chance to bring the scores level.

Pressure on Ruben Amorim grows

If last weekend’s victory over Chelsea did anything to alleviate the constant pressure around Amorim, this weekend did not help.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for even the most loyal fans to back up certain team selections.

Even more pressingly, despite having significant time on the training ground this season, United seem to continue making the same errors over and over again.

It is also very hard to identify any clear playing style as the team somewhat drifts from one game to the next without anybody really knowing what will happen.

Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images

online polls

Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social