United View: More misery for Manchester United

Being a Manchester United fan is miserable business these days, after all the positive talk over the summer and a sense of optimism going into Saturday’s game against Brentford, a 3-1 loss to the West London side sinks United to even lower depths. 

If things don’t change, Ruben Amorim could walk himself into another managerial casualty at Old Trafford.

Ruben Amorim called for more ‘personality’ in an attempt to control the game, suggesting that his side played Brentford’s game rather than sticking to their own plan.

His side conceded two needless goals from long balls early in the first half before Benjamin Šeško pulled one back.

There was no feeling that United were building momentum despite their goal, and when Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty in the second half, the game got away from them completely, and Brentford added a third in stoppage time to inflict a third loss of the season.

The feeling amongst fans is becoming sour, as the team is seemingly carrying on last season’s disastrous form into this campaign, even though the club has spent big on a new frontline, with Amorim still unable to win back-to-back games in the Premier League.

Amorim was brought in to play his style of football, with the manager suggesting that not even the Pope could make him change his formation, but it is becoming bewildering that he doesn’t tweak his formation at all during games.

The best managers adapt. Just look at Pep Guardiola, who abandoned his philosophy at the Emirates last week and sat in a low block, seemingly looking to play more counterattacking football this season.

The Portuguese was brought in to play the type of football he was playing at Sporting, and while he may not want to scrap his principles, right now, he needs results, and some players look ill-suited to the type of football he wants to play.

If reports are to be believed, then his position at the club is safe, but how long can things continue in this fashion before Sir Jim Ratcliffe is forced into making an uncomfortable decision regarding his position?

The players need to take accountability in this mess too: defensive blunders, messing up attacking, and susceptibility to set pieces and goalkeeper mistakes make United a team easy to get at, even when they do put together a decent performance.

And it’s frustrating to see that only certain players get punished, by being dropped or substituted. For as good as Bruno Fernandes has been for United over the years, he’s now cost the team points from missed penalties, and his performances in midfield have been poor.

Yet he will continue to start games, even though he is playing well below the level he’s shown he’s capable of. 

Meanwhile, Kobbie Mainoo has to settle for minutes off the bench, making it confusing what he has to do to get into the starting eleven.

This isn’t making Bruno the scapegoat; he’s being asked to play in a position that doesn’t suit him, and he isn’t the only one who is playing poorly.

It just seems that the punishment for underperforming is inconsistent.

United face Sunderland on Saturday, and they might win, but what will that show? 

They have shown they are capable of turning up one week and not doing so the following week. 

They need consistent results, but currently, there is no clear sense of how that will actually come together.

The worry is that the Reds continue to lose matches, and things start to turn toxic. 

Something has to change, but if Amorim’s word is to be believed, it isn’t going to be his formation, so fans can only hope it will be performances that improve.