Manchester United‘s long wait for their first back-to-back Premier League win under Ruben Amorim continues after a woeful 3-1 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Starting their new front three for the first time, Amorim was hoping to build momentum after the win over 10-man Chelsea at Old Trafford a week earlier
An embarrassing start saw Brentford lead 2-0 after 20 minutes through two Igor Thiago goals, both of which were woefully defended by United. Benjamin Sesko‘s first United strike pulled the Red Devils back into the contest.
Bruno Fernandes saw a second-half penalty saved after a four-minute delay taking the spot-kick. Mathias Jensen confirmed Brentford’s three points with a stoppage-time effort to condemn United to a third defeat of the season inside just six games and leave Amorim in huge trouble.
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Bruno Fernandes had a chance to equalise from the spot for Manchester after the break, but Caoimhin Kelleher saved it.
It was far from an ideal start to the game on Saturday as Manchester United found themselves down through an Igor Thiago goal early, with another easily avoidable goal.
Again, minutes later, Brentford went 2-0 ahead, giving the Red Devils a mountain to climb.
In the 26th minute, Benjamin Sesko began climbing that mountain with his first goal for the club, making it 2-1.
United failed to kick on after this, with Brentford eventually making it 3-1 to heap the pressure back onto Ruben Amorim.
Here are five things we learned from the defeat.
So much has been made of Sesko’s difficult start to life as a Manchester United striker, which saw him fail to score in his first six games.
However, his all-round performances have been pretty good and given faith that the goals would come, and against Brentford, he got himself off the mark.
Sesko’s goal was a scrappy one, as he had three bites of the apple, two being saved before the third was rifled into the back of the net.
This should do wonders for Sesko’s confidence, and don’t be surprised if the goals start to flow in a little easier now.
Before this season, Bruno Fernandes was one of the safest bets to score a penalty in world football, but from the three he has taken this season, two have been missed.
With points on the line against Brentford, Fernandes stepped up, and the miss was coming a mile off as he waited four minutes to take the kick.
Missing two from three with elite penalty takers like Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo also on the pitch could mean there is a change coming soon.
For Brentford’s second goal, Bayindir was once again at fault, as he often has been throughout this season.
Bayindir put a needless touch on a cross, sending it directly to Igor Thiago, who had an open net.
The Turkish goalkeeper got a hand to the shot, but it was weak, and the ball went across the line. Too often, Bayindir is weak, meaning opponents score goals they shouldn’t have the chance to do.
Against Sunderland and onwards, Senne Lammens needs to be given a chance; he can hardly do a worse job than Bayindir.
After beating Chelsea, there was an acceptance that United really needed to kick on and beat Brentford to build some momentum.
However, as has been the case for almost a year, back-to-back wins proved impossible as United were well beaten by the Bees in what felt like a pretty fatal blow to Amorim.
Next week against Sunderland feels like D-Day for United, but even a win there might not be enough.
Once again on Saturday, Kobbie Mainoo was annoyingly left on the bench as Manuel Ugarte started and struggled.
Mainoo entered the fray in the 65th minute, instantly showing his quality and raising the technical levels in midfield.
Every Mainoo cameo goes like this, though, yet Amorim fails to reward him or use him properly the next week, with every game Mainoo doesn’t start, leading to faith in Amorim dissipating.
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