What is even worse than the result for Amorim is that this had all the hallmarks of a tactical defeat. They owned the midfield, stifled our attack throughout and created far too many chances, while we looked disjointed and hapless, no aspect of our game functioned well. Obviously their game plan worked, ours didn't. Not a single United player looked like he had a good game, which is telling. And there was no effective response. In many ways the most troubling performance of the season. If there's a silver lining, it would be that we were still pretty close to a result. If Bruno buries that penalty, we might well have come away with a point, or even more. You wonder how much confidence plays into all this.
PL L FA Premier League
Brentford 3:1 Manchester United
Post-match discussion
Sat, 27 September 2025
Shite goals to concede, we didn't seem prepared for anything other than them doing set pieces.
Never got going second half which was a huge disappointment after pulling one goal back.
Penalty situation was a farce. Subs being allowed ahead of it being taken was bullshit. Having said that, I felt Fernandes was going to miss anyway, mentally he seemed off today and was poor overall.
Never got going second half which was a huge disappointment after pulling one goal back.
Penalty situation was a farce. Subs being allowed ahead of it being taken was bullshit. Having said that, I felt Fernandes was going to miss anyway, mentally he seemed off today and was poor overall.
See my above post. Premier League have responded by saying Mbeumo was not in control of the ball.=
That makes no sence, does that mean if someone is running toward the ball to tap it in to an empty net but gets down by the defender before they get to it a red card cant be issued because they wernt in control of the ball?
I’ve noticed Altay Bayindir is second in MOTM poll, he made saves but really he should have saved the second and definitely the third. Today was just a sign of how poor he is even when on the surface he appeared to make one or two good saves.
I was watching on a yank stream and the only views of the offside call for the first Brentford goal were from an awful angle. For anyone watching on TNT did they show the lines graphic? Looked v close to me.
And as for the red card, since when does the ball have to be under control for it to be a red card offence? So if someone plays a long ball over the defence and a striker is running on to the pass, he's clear through on goal and is wiped out by a desperate lunge by the defender, that wouldn't be classed as preventing a goalscoring opportunity? When did this change? I knew we'd struggle with Andy Madley on VAR and it seems they looked for any possible reason not to give a red card - hence the huge delay.
And while I'm at it, since when did we allow substitutions to be made before penalty is taken? If the game is stopped it should surely be stopped completely? Maybe this happens all the time and I just haven't spotted it, but I don't recall having seen it before?
And as for the red card, since when does the ball have to be under control for it to be a red card offence? So if someone plays a long ball over the defence and a striker is running on to the pass, he's clear through on goal and is wiped out by a desperate lunge by the defender, that wouldn't be classed as preventing a goalscoring opportunity? When did this change? I knew we'd struggle with Andy Madley on VAR and it seems they looked for any possible reason not to give a red card - hence the huge delay.
And while I'm at it, since when did we allow substitutions to be made before penalty is taken? If the game is stopped it should surely be stopped completely? Maybe this happens all the time and I just haven't spotted it, but I don't recall having seen it before?
Have we seen the offside lines or automated for their first goal? Looked just onside but would be interesting to see how close it was. Also, where the feck was Bayindir…close him down at least!
The positives.
It's over.
I saw them, and Maguires feet were about 2 seconds behind the rest of his body so were easily playing him on (for a close call),
Two poor-to-average teams on display. For me, there were far too many stoppages for petty fouls that spoiled any continuity. The ref wouldn't stop blowing up for minor infractions where had he allowed played to continue, we might have had a decent match. Brentford were worth their win. We had no answer to their first two goals and when we did drag ourselves back into it and got a penalty, we had to wait for ages before Bruno took it and missed. Both United and Brentford are not going to be there or thereabouts at season's end and this game showed exactly why that is. Radical changes are necessary.
That was farcical. Once the pen was given, everything should have stopped until it was scored or missed. I agree that Bruno was off the pace today but we've seen before what a distraction can do to him when he has to take a penalty. I was almost tempted to place an in-game bet that he's miss.
All he needed to do was:
1. Start Lammens instead Bayindir
2. Heavens instead of Shaw
3. Yoro instead of Maguire
4. Mainoo instead of Ugarte (ideally bench Bruno and start Mainoo - Ugarte but we know it is too much to ask his biased ass)
That would have most likely given us needed energy and sharpness. And if it didnt, even if we lost - at least he would have shown initiative and bravery and we wouldnt criticize him as much
Not only an idiot, not just biased, also a coward
1. Start Lammens instead Bayindir
2. Heavens instead of Shaw
3. Yoro instead of Maguire
4. Mainoo instead of Ugarte (ideally bench Bruno and start Mainoo - Ugarte but we know it is too much to ask his biased ass)
That would have most likely given us needed energy and sharpness. And if it didnt, even if we lost - at least he would have shown initiative and bravery and we wouldnt criticize him as much
Not only an idiot, not just biased, also a coward
Missed the game. How are our stats looking?
Don't think it would matter if we are set up the same way in this horrible system.
Nobody knows what they are doing and we are constantly outmatched in key areas of the pitch.
We've just been blown apart by a side where we poached their best player and that have lost their best manager, captain and star striker.
You can't explain that other than our own manager being grossly incompetent and incapable of changing his system to actually adapt to the premier league.
Amorim is just making really poor team selections now.
It is looking like it’s over and we start a new rebuild after this. Thank you for the 3-4-3 Amorim, and now let’s go back to winning some games.
I hate to make this about the system, when our players play so poorly week in week out. But I guess it’s on him to make better team selections as well.
If we can’t play Mainoo and Bruno in a team together, and bench one of them so Harry and Shaw can play in a back 3 - my word. What happened to getting your best players on the pitch!
It is looking like it’s over and we start a new rebuild after this. Thank you for the 3-4-3 Amorim, and now let’s go back to winning some games.
I hate to make this about the system, when our players play so poorly week in week out. But I guess it’s on him to make better team selections as well.
If we can’t play Mainoo and Bruno in a team together, and bench one of them so Harry and Shaw can play in a back 3 - my word. What happened to getting your best players on the pitch!
Abysmal.
Lost virtually all 1v1 individual battles.
No ideas in the attacking 3rd.
Unorganized defending.
Inability to take our chances.
Lack of character.
Subpar effort.
Failed to control the midfield.
1s across the board for me. Negative one billion rating for the manager.
I hate this team.
Ditto. Leeds Saints it is
Obviously at the end of the day the results fall on the manager and the way it's going it's clearly just a matter of time before he's let go because he can't get to grips with the league. But today there was no luck, baffling refereeing compounded by terrible decisions from our players. The players either aren't understanding what he's trying to do, or they aren't suited to his tactics or they are doing what the manager wants and it just isn't working. Which ever one it is it leads to thd same conclusion, manager sacked.
In the first 5 games this season, we looked quick and fluid (atleast in the first half). Today, it was all slow and labored.
Bayinder: couple of good saves. Could have done better for the 2nd. Should have done better for the 3rd
Dalot: His defending has always been suspect. His offense has also gone bad now
Maguire & De Ligt: Totally off pace which is kind of expected of them but also were losing headers most of the time.
Shaw: always seems to take too long to pick a pass and puts everyone under pressure. Has absolutely no urgency it virtually anything that he does on the pitch.
Ugarte: had a decent game
Bruno: was absolutely sh*t all game. Must be so annoying to have him as a teammate. Forever complaining even when he is at fault. Perfect example was when he miscontrolled an easy long ball and blamed the passer for having passed it to him instead of someone else
Mbeumo: was absolutely off his game but i can forgive that as he has been decent for the first 5 games
Cunha: Good skills. Too selfish.
Sesko: Worked hard. Not much service.
Yoro: Need him to start. Having him next to Maguire or De Ligt gives us the pace we need next to them while they handle the long balls.
Mainoo: Did well until that sloppy moment when he lost the ball and we conceded the goal.
Zirkzee: Have no idea what he was brought on to do as it definitely was not brought on to do what he was doing which was basically nothing
Bayinder: couple of good saves. Could have done better for the 2nd. Should have done better for the 3rd
Dalot: His defending has always been suspect. His offense has also gone bad now
Maguire & De Ligt: Totally off pace which is kind of expected of them but also were losing headers most of the time.
Shaw: always seems to take too long to pick a pass and puts everyone under pressure. Has absolutely no urgency it virtually anything that he does on the pitch.
Ugarte: had a decent game
Bruno: was absolutely sh*t all game. Must be so annoying to have him as a teammate. Forever complaining even when he is at fault. Perfect example was when he miscontrolled an easy long ball and blamed the passer for having passed it to him instead of someone else
Mbeumo: was absolutely off his game but i can forgive that as he has been decent for the first 5 games
Cunha: Good skills. Too selfish.
Sesko: Worked hard. Not much service.
Yoro: Need him to start. Having him next to Maguire or De Ligt gives us the pace we need next to them while they handle the long balls.
Mainoo: Did well until that sloppy moment when he lost the ball and we conceded the goal.
Zirkzee: Have no idea what he was brought on to do as it definitely was not brought on to do what he was doing which was basically nothing
It is the system, pure and simple, what's worse every team we play knows we are going to play x players in x positions and do xyz, easy to prepare for, and what's worse is that even when when we are chasing the game and take a defender off for an attacker we just stick an attacker in defence instead of switching formation, it is absolute madness.
I like Amorim I really do, but come on he is doing everything he can to lose his job, being so inflexible he does not deserve to keep his job if he would rather stick so rigidly to something which hasn't worked and continues to fail, FFS man try something different! why the heck not at this point?
Haha yes!
I can see where you are coming from but the goals we conceded were also quite soft which does go against your tactical defeat thing. I mean, Brentford deserves credit, they were well prepared, they were brave, they knew how to push to make us struggle - but thats not a tactical defeat from the start, thats just a "to be expected environment". It is like so many games with Amorim lately, he really is the Anti-Ole in terms of not having much luck going his way when it comes to results. While Ole managed those results while performances certainly weren't better than they are now.
thats not me saying that Amorim isn't to blame, he is the one starting Maguire and Shaw. Starting Bruno in the middle. But I felt, the match had more the look of a cagey draw and the result doesn't really suit what we've seen. (Well, at least not what I saw, but that is highly subjective).
The performance was rancid. It could have easily ended in a draw, but that wouldn’t have made it any less rancid. The defeat - as a result - at lest focuses minds. I didn’t come away from Ole games with this sort of sense of dysfunction about the team.
Big time, but we can’t ignore the poor tactics or poor implementation of them.
How has Sesko worked hard?!? Doesn’t seem to me to be the type for doing that. Extremely economical with his contributions. Just compare him to Thiago for Brentford.
Give Brentford lots of credit for intelligent play on both sides of the ball, but our tactics might it impossible to create the tempo we need to take the opponent off their game. As fans as we don’t deserve to be served up this shit, but the club itself fully deserved defeat today. If this result doesn’t cause Ruben to rethink his tactics, no result ever will.
Tactics alone have no value. It is always also about execution. The manager surely deserves to be criticized but he shouldn't take the blow for the team.
That was much needed today after last week’s shambles vs the river rats. Not the first time you’ve been humbled at the GTech but hard to see how Amorim can continue much longer. Having said that god knows where you go next but what is clearly lacking and the big difference between the two clubs for me is a lack of clear direction from the ownership/director of football all the way to the manager/head coach.
Thought Jim Radcliffe may have brought fundamental changes (maybe too earlier to judge) but with the Glazers still hanging around I am not convinced things are gonna get better any time soon.
Good support again from those that travelled until the inevitable fire drill - always amongst the loudest away following at the gtech with a great variety of songs.
Thought Jim Radcliffe may have brought fundamental changes (maybe too earlier to judge) but with the Glazers still hanging around I am not convinced things are gonna get better any time soon.
Good support again from those that travelled until the inevitable fire drill - always amongst the loudest away following at the gtech with a great variety of songs.
Maybe you didn't. I know I did. But thats subjective to a degree. For what its worth, I think, Brentford was the better team today, but we weren't battered. We conceded two soft goals, scored a soft goal and got a pen. We then ran into a very late counter.
On any given day the players can let their manager down. But if the players he has continue to perform poorly, it falls on the manager to try something different.
Absolutely. Surprised that nobody is mentioning Bruno. IMO while Bruno is playing no manager will be able to create winning team.
I agree. The thing for me - on the contrary of so many on here is - what exactly do we expect to work better? There is so much talk about a system change but the players will stay the same. Dalot was an uninspriring Fullback before he was tasked to play as Wingback. Our strikers were inexperienced before and will stay inexperienced for a while as well. Our midfield has been outfought, outsmarted and outmaneuvered on a regular basis for the last what - 4 years? 6 years?
You are right - the manager should try something different. But how many on here would be even capable of seeing changes?
Every team we play know exactly how we are going to set up and play. Even a rookie Brentford manager knows how to play and beat the Amourin system.
There is just no tactical surprise in our locker. Over-run our flimsy 2 in midfield and then run at our shoddy defence and its childs play to score.
Today felt like a new low we were so disorganised when being attacked. It was schoolboy comical defending.
I don't see how Amourin can ever succeed with his rigid system.
There is just no tactical surprise in our locker. Over-run our flimsy 2 in midfield and then run at our shoddy defence and its childs play to score.
Today felt like a new low we were so disorganised when being attacked. It was schoolboy comical defending.
I don't see how Amourin can ever succeed with his rigid system.
The arrogance of sticking to this formation/favourite players after 18 months of success in a vastly inferior league is maddening. We absolutely must persist with this philosophy because it worked out in a farmers league where 8 matches a season were vaguely contested is insane. Amorim increasingly resembles a timeshare salesman.
Have a look at the stats, you'll find out.
Quote:
"The manager surely deserves to be criticized but he shouldn't take the blow for the team"
Technically you're correct. It's the players who allow the opposition to win the ball. It's the players who misplace passes. It's the players who don't block the shots or make the saves. It's the players who miss chances. And of course the manager shouldn't take any of the blame. Even if he played 11 outfield players and no goalkeeper, it would still be the players fault. The manager doesn't kick the ball, and he's not on the pitch. So why should he take the blame?
And that is also the reason why there's been only 9 wins and 17 defeats in 33 league games.
Does that explain your logic correctly?
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Yeah, I've been doing a lot of this lately - and by lately I mean the last couple of years. Some unreal football was had, wish my 10 year old had better memories of us, hopefully he won't be waiting too long, but won't be anything close to what I and millions of others had growing up.
We saw we had numbers for the 2nd goal conceded but it’s like a bystander effect with all these bodies and no one taking responsibility. The only defender who really snuffs out danger is de Ligt and he’s also the only one who is talking and instructing (really should be CCB in this formation). And their first goal shows why we can’t really play a high line with such a slow defense. While the third shows that we still don’t have an actual GK, that went through him. Could just as well have grabbed it and then kicked in goal himself.
The wing backs offer hardly any penetration, the crosses are normally floated to the far post if they are accurate in the first place, which most often, they’re not. Neither can really take a man on. And Dalot has that uncanny ability with his back to goal to thump the ball with his left foot right into traffic in the centre, hoping it’s going to land favourably. I do wonder what his pass completion percentage with those passes is. I dislike him by far the most out of all our players. He simply cannot keep getting seasons at the club.
The midfield was dysfunctional as ever. Fernandes recently showered with complements after scoring his 100th goal for the club is back to a 5/10 performance, I’d say his average this season is 6/10. Ugarte the supposed bulldog in midfield is weak as piss shielding the ball and easily dispossessed, feels like I’m watching Eriksen or Mata, what is going on? 50m?
Ref watch:
Cunha was fouled just before their first goal. Cunha was fouled (definite yellow) on the 31st minute taking a shot and they went in with the studs, we got a corner. Missed a clear yellow (again) on the 51st minute Kayode on Dorgu.
The Collins foul was such a clear red that Dawson should be demoted. How that is not the denial of a goal scoring opportunity is bonkers. And you just knew Bruno would feck things up.
Also, someone needs to check Thiago for steroid use.
The wing backs offer hardly any penetration, the crosses are normally floated to the far post if they are accurate in the first place, which most often, they’re not. Neither can really take a man on. And Dalot has that uncanny ability with his back to goal to thump the ball with his left foot right into traffic in the centre, hoping it’s going to land favourably. I do wonder what his pass completion percentage with those passes is. I dislike him by far the most out of all our players. He simply cannot keep getting seasons at the club.
The midfield was dysfunctional as ever. Fernandes recently showered with complements after scoring his 100th goal for the club is back to a 5/10 performance, I’d say his average this season is 6/10. Ugarte the supposed bulldog in midfield is weak as piss shielding the ball and easily dispossessed, feels like I’m watching Eriksen or Mata, what is going on? 50m?
Ref watch:
Cunha was fouled just before their first goal. Cunha was fouled (definite yellow) on the 31st minute taking a shot and they went in with the studs, we got a corner. Missed a clear yellow (again) on the 51st minute Kayode on Dorgu.
The Collins foul was such a clear red that Dawson should be demoted. How that is not the denial of a goal scoring opportunity is bonkers. And you just knew Bruno would feck things up.
Also, someone needs to check Thiago for steroid use.
I'm just tired of it all. It's sports, I always try and stay positive. But, all the mini false dawns over the last X years are starting to leave a mark. Getting harder to not get completely jaded.
Man of the Match
Runners-up
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24%
Altay Bayindir
-
13%
Matthijs de Ligt
-
8%
Bryan Mbeumo
-
5%
Patrick Dorgu
-
4%
Matheus Cunha
-
4%
Manuel Ugarte
-
2%
Luke Shaw
-
1%
Joshua Zirkzee
-
1%
Kobbie Mainoo
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1%
Leny Yoro
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 209 ratings.
Score Predictions
129,18,35
- Man Utd win
- Brentford win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 32% Brentford 1:2 Man Utd
- 14% Brentford 0:2 Man Utd
- 13% Brentford 1:1 Man Utd
- 13% Brentford 1:3 Man Utd
- 5% Brentford 2:2 Man Utd
- 5% Brentford 0:3 Man Utd
- 3% Brentford 2:3 Man Utd
- 3% Brentford 2:1 Man Utd
- 3% Brentford 2:0 Man Utd
- 2% Brentford 0:0 Man Utd
- 2% Brentford 3:1 Man Utd
- 2% Brentford 1:4 Man Utd
- 1% Brentford 0:1 Man Utd
- 1% Brentford 3:0 Man Utd
- 1% Brentford 0:5 Man Utd
- 1% Brentford 9:0 Man Utd
- 1% Brentford 0:9 Man Utd
- 1% Brentford 1:0 Man Utd
Man Utd Lineup
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-
-
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replaced by Kobbie Mainoo
-
replaced by Joshua Zirkzee
-
replaced by Mason Mount
-
-
replaced by Leny Yoro
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-
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