RUBEN AMORIM rewrote the history books by playing the kids.
Yet unfortunately for the Red Devils manager, he also continued to break records for all the wrong reasons as United’s worst ever Premier League season got even worse.
AFPMan Utd’s youngest-ever side was well beaten 4-3 by Brentford[/caption]
ReutersThe Bees ran riot in west London on Sunday[/caption]
RexUnited were brought back down to earth after their Europa League heroics[/caption]
AFPThe Red Devils’ dismal domestic campaign shows no signs of letting up[/caption]
After Mason Mount scored for only the second time since joining United, Luke Shaw scored an own goal, Kevin Schade grabbed two and Yoane Wissa added the fourth for Brentford.
Alejandro Garnacho and sub Amad Diallo scored late goals but there was no stopping United collapsing to their 16 Premier League loss, a club record. Incredibly, Amorim is still stuck on just six top-flight wins.
In most other seasons, United would be in a relegation fight so they are lucky the bottom three teams are so rubbish.
At least the club’s fans have a Europa League final to look forward to as surely they cannot mess up their semi-final second leg against Bilbao.
With one eye on Thursday’s game, Amorim made eight changes from the win in Spain. With an average age of 22 years and 270 days, this was the third youngest team to start a Premier League game.
And at 17 years and 156 days, striker Chido Obi became United’s youngest Premier League starter.
But Brentford, an outstanding, intelligent and physically imposing team, were the last team any manager should play the kids against.
After another impressive season, it remains a mystery why so-called bigger clubs are not going for manager Thomas Frank.
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Maybe, United should not have been so snobby and moved for the Danish coach when Erik ten Hag was sacked in October.
A Europa League success would be a big triumph for United and hand them a passport back to the Champions League.
But aside from the cash which United would earn, it is debatable whether the club would really want to play in the Champions League as this current squad could end up getting humiliated.
But on a lousy day for Amorim, he also suffered an injury blow with Matthijs de Ligt going off with an injury after the second goal.
Luke Shaw, given the captain’s armband, nearly suffered one of the most embarrassing moments of his career in what would have been a spectacular own goal but there was lots of spin on the ball and his header went wide.
A relieved Shaw allowed himself a brief smile although that was nothing compared to the grin on the face of team-mate Mount a few minutes later.
GettyMason Mount opened the scoring after 14 minutes[/caption]
AFPLuke Shaw got Brentford back into it with an own goal soon after[/caption]
Garnacho was at the heart of the move down the left and his low cross was superbly dispatched into the corner by Mount whose only other United goal came at the same stadium 13 months ago.
This was Mount’s first start since the Manchester derby in December and it is an understatement to say his United career has been stop-start.
In the crowd was England manager Thomas Tuchel although considering Mount has not played for his country since the World Cup quarter-final defeat to France in 2022, he will not yet be thinking about a Three Lions return quite yet.
While Shaw got lucky earlier, he was not quite so fortunate as Brentford scored the goal they had been threatening.
ReutersKevin Schade then ran riot with two goals, one in the 33rd minute and the other in the 70th[/caption]
PAYoanne Wissa compounded United’s misery with a 74th minute effort[/caption]
United failed to clear a long throw from Michael Kayode, the Brentford defender raced into the area, beat Harry Amass to a header and Mikkel Damsgaard’s strike took a heavy deflection of Shaw past a wrong-footed Bayindir.
Every time Brentford booted the ball into the air they looked like scoring and their second was down to more weak defending.
De Ligt was on the floor after suffering the injury in a challenge with Wissa but the referee was never going to stop play as it was not a head injury.
United failed to deal with Christian Norgaard’s cross with Schade getting between Patrick Dorgu and Tyler Fredricson to plant a header past Bayindir.
GettyAlejandro Garnacho gave United a glimmer of hope with a wonder strike[/caption]
AFPAmad Diallo then came off the bench for United’s third but it was too little, too late[/caption]
Leny Yoro and Amad Diallo replaced Shaw and Dorgu at half-time while there was a mixture of jeers and applause when Christian Eriksen – who played for Brentford in 2022 – replaced Mount just before the hour.
Although Odi did not see too much of the ball, he had a terrific chance to score on his big day but was denied by a stunning block by Norgaard.
Amass, suffered a torrid day at the back, wasted a good chance and soon after, Schade put the game out of United’s reach with a far post header from Bryan Mbeumo’s cross.
Schade was given a standing ovation when he was replaced but the goals kept on coming with Mbeumo squaring for Wissa who had a tap in.
Garnacho scored a decent goal from outside the area and in the fifth minute of injury time, Diallo fired a shot through the legs of home keeper Mark Flekken.
While the scoreline made the game look close it was anything but.
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