Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United had worked on dealing with long balls over the top in training—only to see his side concede twice in that fashion during their 3–1 defeat to Brentford.
Much of the build-up to Saturday lunchtime’s clash was focused on the fact United have not yet won back-to-back Premier League games since Amorim’s appointment in November last year. After 20 minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium, it was clear the streak would continue.
Igor Thiago was the beneficiary to extremely generous defending from United. First, he profited from Harry Maguire’s failed attempt to deploy an offside trap, before Matthijs de Ligt was punished for getting completely lost under a long ball over the top.
Benjamin Šeško’s first United goal suggested the Red Devils could get back into the game, but when Bruno Fernandes missed a second half penalty, the life was sucked out of Amorim’s side. The final nail in the coffin was added by Mathias Jensen in stoppage-time—his swerving shot lasered past Altay Bayındır, who arguably should have done better in goal, to condemn United to a 3–1 loss.
