Charlie Grace

Mon 29 September 2025 9:45, UK Updated Mon 29 September 2025 11:12, UK

Manchester United fell to another dismal defeat away at Brentford in the Premier League, losing 3-1 on their travels on Saturday.

Man United lost 3-1 away at Brentford after an Igor Thiago brace and a Mathias Jensen thunderbolt cancelled out Benjamin Sesko’s first Premier League goal.

Ruben Amorim had a favourable run of fixtures coming up ahead of October’s international to turn around Man United’s poor form under him.

Man United are preparing to sack Amorim, according to reports, should results not improve by the international break, and showings like Brentford won’t help his case.

Gary Neville blasts Ruben Amorim for Mason Mount decision

Man United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea made some feel like the tide was turning for Amorim’s side, but the Brentford loss has brought that optimism back to earth.

Speaking on his podcast, Gary Neville talked about Man United’s showing at Brentford and what it meant for Amorim’s future at the club.

Neville said: “Yesterday was a really poor performance, I felt yesterday through instinct for the first time, looking at the body language that there might be an element of the players doubting the system and what’s going on.

“I said a couple of weeks ago that Mason Mount can’t go to left wing-back again, there’s sticking to your plan and making sure you deliver your idea and not flip-flopping on that, but when you start to put Mount at left wing-back, it starts to look awful

“He keeps constantly changing his back three or five, one comes on, then another comes off, and another comes on, and someone else goes off, but you cannot keep changing your backline, it’s impossible,” Neville continued.

The former Man United captain went on to say: “That’s the part of the pitch where you need reliability and consistency to build relationships.

“Ruben Amorim has had a pre-season, a week between almost all of his games, yet the performances are as poor as ever, and the results are catastrophic.”

Ruben Amorim’s backline changes baffle as stubbornness continues

Dominating Portugal with Liga NOS’ best squad and trying to achieve a top-six finish in the Premier League with an average squad are two very different tasks.

Yet, Amorim is approaching both in the same way, and as a head coach who lives and dies by his ideas, this idea is only taking him one way.

Systems and teams are more than formations, but what Amorim is asking of his squad isn’t achievable with a group of players who are average for the most part by wider league standards.

At Sporting, Amorim’s intensive backline jumping worked because they were the best three defenders in the league; at Man United, they’re far from it.

Brentford exploited this to perfection and gave Sunderland the perfect blueprint to replicate their winning plan against Man United on Saturday.

Amorim has been backed by Man United for now, but for all who are watching, it feels like only a divine intervention from the Pope can save the Portuguese head coach now.