Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker were both left scratching their heads at what Ruben Amorim did with three Manchester United stars against Brentford on Saturday.
The Red Devils had arrived at the Gtech Community Stadium on the weekend on the back of Manchester United’s 2-1 Premier League win over Chelsea at Old Trafford.
Brentford impressed against United in the first half of the Premier League clash and Keith Andrews’ men took a 2-1 lead into half-time at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Igor Thiago netted a brace in the opening 20 minutes for Brentford, while striker Benjamin Sesko managed to reduce the deficit for the Red Devils in the first half.
But United’s defeat to Brentford was ensured in the dying stages of the match after Mathias Jensen fired a powerful strike past Altay Bayindir from outside of the box.
Alan Shearer makes ‘confusion’ point over Man Utd manager Ruben Amorim and Gary Lineker’s reaction says it all
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Alan Shearer told Gary Lineker that he was unsure what Ruben Amorim was trying to do with his late tactics on Saturday.
The 55-year-old Premier League legend singled out Bryan Mbeumo, Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee for the positions they all found themselves in against Brentford.
“But after that [Bruno Fernandes’ penalty miss] then, I mean, it was alarming what he was doing, moving so many different players around,” Shearer said.
“I mean, Micah [Richards] said it on Match of the Day, the subs he brings on, moving centre-back into the right centre-back into centre-back, middle of centre-back into left centre-back.”
The Newcastle legend continued: “Then Mbeumo was right wing-back and then Mason Mount came on as a [No] 10 for four minutes.
“Then he brought Zirkzee on and then moved Mount to left wing-back. I mean, confusion got on.”
Responding to Shearer’s assessment, Lineker said: “I didn’t quite catch that, Alan, could you just repeat that?”
Shearer then added: “It was like, ‘Goodness me, what on earth is happening?’ It’s incredible.”
Gary Lineker reveals to Alan Shearer his feelings on Micah Richards’ remarks about Man Utd under Ruben Amorim
Micah Richards was critical of United’s performance against Brentford and the Sky Sports pundit once again raised questions about Ruben Amorim’s tactical system.
Despite the absence of his Rest Is Football co-host from the podcast, Lineker admitted that Micah Richards hit the nail on the head with Amorim’s tactical approach.
“Yeah, I think Micah put it very well when he said, you know, I know footballers are supposed to be able to adapt and you can adapt, but that many changes which alter everything, [a] different person playing in a completely different position in the same game is going to lead to confusion,” he said.
Reacting to what Lineker said about Richards, Shearer added: “But exactly the same system.”
United will now play their next match at Old Trafford ahead of the start of the October international break, with United facing Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.
Kick off for the upcoming Premier League clash between 14th-place United and fifth-place Sunderland at Old Trafford is slated for 3pm UK time.
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