Ruben Amorim seemed listless on the touchline against Brentford | Image Credits: IMAGO/ Action Plus
Manchester United’s struggles away from home continued to haunt them in the Premier League as Ruben Amorim’s men lost 3-1 to Brentford courtesy of an Igor Thiago brace and a thunderous strike by Mathias Jensen in stoppage time.
Against the run of play, Thiago opened the scoring in the 8th minute, and the Brentford striker doubled his side’s lead in the 20th minute.
When asked about the two early goals and whether United conceded them because of their system, Amorim blasted, “It’s always the same. When we win, it’s not the system; when we lose, it’s the system. We played this game like Brentford wanted to play this game - Long balls, we kicked the balls, then second balls, and we were never able to settle down. We never played our game, we weren’t able to push the opponent. We never got long possession periods or control of the game, so we lost.”
Talking about what was missing in the early kickoff on Saturday and the improvements required, Amorim continued, “We missed a lot of crosses in the final third and suffered the first two goals on transition. We need to work on everything. The frustration is that every goal we conceded today, we worked on exactly those things during the whole week. We can do better with the ball and have more control. We understand that when the decisions are not going in your favor, and momentum is not on your side, we can settle down the game, and that is something I know this team is capable of, but we didn’t do it today.”
Shortly after, Benjamin Sesko scored his first goal for the Red Devils to pull one goal back for his side as the game went into half-time with the hosts leading 2-1.
Craig Pawson explains his decisions to Manchester United players | Image Credits: IMAGO/ News Images
As the clock struck the 70th minute in the match, Bryan Mbuemo was brought down inside the penalty area and quite expectedly, skipper Bruno Fernandes stepped up to take the penalty.
After a poor outing in West London for 70-odd minutes, Bruno had the chance to turn around his evening, but the Red Devils’ skipper failed to convert the spot kick and get his side back into the match.
Many fans and pundits, including Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves, felt that Nathan Collins should have been sent off by referee Craig Pawson for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity to Mbuemo.
Speaking on the same, Amorim said, “The referee told me that Bryan was not in control of the ball, and I think he was not in control of the ball because he was pulled. In these situations, I don’t want to focus on the referee, and you guys can make your own opinions.”
When asked about the individual mistakes made by the players against Brentford and whether Amorim is trying to shield the players from taking responsibility for the same, the Manchester United head coach remarked, “That is my job, and I'm not here just to protect the players; I am trying to do what is best for the club and the team. I feel that sometimes in the games, when things are really hard, they are not the same (as in training), but that is the pressure of the club."
Analyzing Saturday's early kick-off, Amorim concluded, "So I'm just thinking, what is the best way to win the next game. I'm not trying to protect the players or myself. I'm just trying to win the next game and create the momentum. I try to be really objective in my analysis of the game, and today, we played the game of Brenford, not our game. And when you play the opponent's game, it's harder to win the game in the end."
