Man United are back to being the butt of Premier League jokes after a 3-1 defeat at Brentford. Their inability to string a set of victories together has been astonishing under Ruben Amorim, who had to face the scrutiny of the press and admit that his players “never settled down” or “played our game.”
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‘We never play our game’
The confidence from the triumph over Chelsea was barely visible in the Red Devils. A long ball released Igor Thiago to smash home before he bagged a brace off the rebound of a Kevin Schade strike. For the manager, this match was a demonstration of what happens when principles go missing.
"It is always the same, when we win it’s not the system, when you lose it’s the system. I think it's more that we play this game like Brentford wants to play this game. With long balls, we kick the balls, second balls, and we never settle down in our game.”
Benjamin Sesko scored his first goal for the visitors, but Mathias Jensen wrapped up the points in injury time of the second half. Amorim could not argue his men deserved more from a shaky showing.
“We never play our game. We never pushed the opponent, every time they recovered the ball. We suffered two goals like that. I think the penalty could change things, but my overall view of the game is that we never settled down, we didn’t have control of the game."
Bruno Fernandes fired a penalty over the bar after Bryan Mbeumo went down in the box under pressure from Nathan Collins. There was no red card, but the flashpoint was not a focus of Amorim.
“I'm trying to explain that sometimes the decisions are not in your favour - that can happen. We have the ability and the capacity to control the game, to calm down the game. We didn't do that today.”
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‘I want not to focus on the referee’
Amorim shifts focus away from the referee
The 40-year-old relayed the referee's logic for refusing to send off the defender in the second half.
“You guys have the ability to make your decision with your opinion of the decision. The referee told me that Bryan Mbeumo was not in control of the ball. I think he was not in control of the ball because he was pulled. So that was the decision. Again, I want - especially in these kind of moments - not to focus on the referee. What we should have done this afternoon is play better. We need to play better."
The media quizzed the Portuguese why he preferred not to hang the players out to dry after making mistakes and failing to be consistent weekly. In his eyes, public criticism does no one any good.
"That is my job, and I'm not here just to protect the players. I'm trying to do what is best for the club and the team. I don't see a point, because I see the guys training. I feel that sometimes in the games when things are really hard, they are not the same, but that is the pressure of the club.”
Chasing momentum and identity
The search for consecutive victories goes on, and this target is pushing Amorim to be positive where possible. He concluded the post-match presser with a statement of the importance of identity.
“I'm thinking what is the best to win the next game. I'm not trying to protect players or myself. I'm trying to win the next game, create momentum. That's it. I am trying to be objective in my analysis. We played the game of Brentford - not our game. When you play the opponent's game, it's harder.”
