Wayne Rooney has admitted that he “really felt” for one of Ruben Amorim’s first-team Manchester United players in the Premier League match against Brentford.
Brentford hosted Manchester United in the Premier League and Thomas Frank’s men came from behind to beat the Red Devils 4-3 at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Mason Mount broke the deadlock for United against Brentford on Sunday afternoon before the Bees rallied back against Ruben Amorim’s side in the first half.
Luke Shaw put the ball in the back of the United net in the 27th minute before Kevin Schade put Brentford 2-1 up six minutes later at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Kevin Schade scored his second and completed his brace in the 70th minute before Yoane Wissa added the fourth for Thomas Frank’s side only four minutes later.
United fought back and Alejandro Garnacho scored from a stunning strike in the 82nd minute before Amad Diallo pulled another one back deep into injury time.
However, the Red Devils were unable to find the crucial equaliser before the full-time whistle and Brentford walked away with all three points against United.
United have suffered 16 Premier League defeats in the 2024-25 campaign and the Red Devils have only three league matches left in their woeful season.
Wayne Rooney drops brutal assessment for Ruben Amorim after Man Utd’s Premier League defeat to Brentford
The Red Devils have won 10 matches in the Premier League from 35 fixtures and Ruben Amorim has struggled to turn around Manchester United’s form in the league.
Amorim rolled out his tactical system at United after his arrival from Sporting CP in 2024 and the 40-year-old Portuguese manager’s tactics have been criticised.
Speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day 2, BBC pundit Danny Murphy said that it was “bizarre” to see how United were playing in the formation against Brentford.
“It is about intensity, but with wingbacks, different to a back four, it allows you to go and press because you’ve got the extra centre half behind you,” he said, as per Goal.
“But surely that’s what they do in training, no? If you’re a coach of a system, the basics of this system with wing-backs is they press the wide men quick and it doesn’t look like they’re doing it. It’s bizarre for me to see.”
Wayne Rooney responded to Danny Murphy and the United legend claimed that it was “strange” to the different roles for players in Amorim’s tactics on Sunday.
“It’s strange, because that’s why you play a back five with wingbacks,” he explained.
“They have to put pressure on the ball or otherwise you get outnumbered in the midfield and the ball comes back into midfield.
“It was strange, but they had a lot of young players.”
Wayne Rooney singles out Chido Obi-Martin after the Man Utd striker’s Premier League performance vs Brentford
Chido Obi-Martin played the full 90 minutes for United after Amorim deployed him in the Premier League tie against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The 17-year-old talent made history for the Red Devils after Chido Obi-Martin became the youngster United player to start in a Premier League clash for the club.
Chido was largely ineffective and Rooney said that the “inexperienced” United striker was receiving “no help” from his teammates in the 4-3 defeat to Brentford.
“There was a lack of movement and a lack of know-how on the pitch,” Rooney added.
“They’ve got a 17-year-old lad up front – the youngest ever to start up front for United – and they’re just launching balls up to him.
“I really felt for Obi today because you can tell he’s inexperienced, but it looked like he had no help; they were just throwing balls up to him.”
United will now return to Europa League action for their second-leg semi-final match against Athletic Club on Thursday evening at Old Trafford.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
