GTECH COMMUNITY STADIUM — For the second time in three seasons, Manchester United conceded four goals in defeat to Brentford, but this time their supporters didn’t seem to mind too much.
Perhaps it was a “if you don’t laugh [or sing], you’ll cry” situation. United have no business being this bad, and yet this has become their status quo.
Luke Shaw scored an unfortunate own goal against Brentford (Photo: Getty)
Still, late goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo gave a veneer of respectability to what was generally another shambolic display.
The Portuguese hadn’t exactly concealed his plans to hit the rotate button, saying pre-match that his focus was on “saving players” for the visit of Athletic Bilbao on Thursday. For now, the Premier League’s most successful club view the competition as an inconvenience.
Domestic matches have been reduced to damage limitation exercises, and this one wasn’t particularly successful, with Matthijs de Ligt suffering a serious-looking injury that Amorim admitted was a major worry.
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In-form Brentford, chasing a European spot, sensed that. Bryan Mbeumo and Wissa have both had superb campaigns and would each walk into this United team, but neither was on their A-game. It hardly mattered, with others stepping up to make the difference.
Garnacho played a give-and-go with Kobbie Mainoo and then lashed a low ball across the face of goal, where Mason Mount slid in to make the telling contact. It was ruthless, clinical football that Amorim hopes to see more of next season.
At that point, things were quickly becoming embarrassing for United. It was an ugly scoreline that justified the suspicions that everyone had before kick-off: that United would lose heavily.
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Garnacho’s goal was a peach, bent into the top corner wickedly from 25 yards out. The Argentine is wildly inconsistent, but there is no doubting the potential. Whether it is harnessed by Amorim remains to be seen, with Antonio Conte’s Napoli circling.
The winger penned a new contract in the winter and has been, Fernandes aside, United’s standout player under Amorim, despite a three-month injury lay-off.
It was a day that showed how far this squad and club are from Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. Winning the Europa League would merely be a sticking plaster.
Until then, expect to see more of the same when the weekends roll around.
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