MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 09: A billboard near Old Trafford shows a picture of Sir Jim Ratcliffe above the words ‘Welcome To Manchester’ prior to the Premier League match between Manchester United and AFC Bournemouth at Old Trafford on December 09, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
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After its encouraging 2-1 victory over Chelsea with a harrowing defeat in West London, Manchester United came crashing down to Earth.
Brentford might only be a couple of postcodes down from the Blues, but in terms of the value of the players in their lineup, they are light-years away.
Ruben Amorim’s team was trailing by two goals with barely a quarter of the game elapsed and the Red Devils suffered a galling 1-3 loss, prompting the same questions about the manager’s method and use of talent.
However, when asked about the role his tactics played after the game, the Portuguese coach wasn’t impressed.
“It is always the same, when we win it’s not the system, when you lose it’s the system,” he told the media.
“I think it’s more that we play this game like Brentford wants to play this game. With long balls, we kick the balls, second balls, and we never settle down in our game.
“We never play our game. We never pushed the opponent; every time they recovered the ball. We suffered two goals like that. I think the penalty could change things, but my overall view of the game is that we never settled down, we didn’t have control of the game.”
Asked how he might alter this grimly familiar pattern, Amorim, unsurprisingly, suggested it was hard work rather than any change to his philosophy.
“You work on everything – work on everything,” he said.
“The frustration is that the goals today, we worked on that during the week.
“That is frustrating. We can do better with the ball. We can have more control. We can understand that sometimes when the decisions are not in our favour, the momentum is not in your favour, we can control the ball – we can settle down the game.”
However, when asked whether he was taking too much of the blame, Amorim declined to criticize the players.
“That is my job, and I’m not here just to protect the players,” he replied. “I’m trying to do what is best for the club and the team. I don’t see a point, because I see the guys training.
“I feel that sometimes in the games when things are really hard, they are not the same, but that is the pressure of the club. I’m just thinking here what is the best to win the next game.
“I’m not trying to protect the players, or myself. I’m just trying to win the next game, and create the momentum.”
External voices were less forgiving. Speaking on his podcast, former Red Devils defender Gary Neville feared that something deeper was wrong.
“I’m very worried,” he said, “That Brentford game was a really poor performance and a real worry.
“I felt for the first time, just through instinct, watching it on the television, seeing players’ faces and body language, that there might be an element of players really doubting the system and what’s going on.
“There was something that happened in that game that I mentioned on my podcast two or three weeks ago that I said we couldn’t see again.
“There’s sticking to your plan and then there’s your coach that’s got an idea and making sure that he delivers that idea and not flip-flopping with his idea with players, which can sometimes undermine what you’re trying to achieve.”
BILBAO, SPAIN – MAY 21: Luke Shaw of Manchester United appears dejected alongside teammates as they wait to collect their runners-up medals after their side’s loss in the UEFA Europa League Final 2025 between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at Estadio de San Mames on May 21, 2025 in Bilbao, Spain. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
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When it comes to the woes of Manchester United, it often feels like we’re stuck in a loop.
Encouraging wins, such as the one against Chelsea, will be followed by soul-destroying defeats, as was the case versus Brentford.
It feels like every 18 months or so, managers come and go, demanding new signings, battling old stars, promising new philosophies, but ultimately rarely achieving anything of note.
Blame among supporters has tended to look beyond the dugout, focusing upwards to the board and ownership.
And it is there that we see an interesting parallel emerge with British politics.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe might have acquired a minority stake in Manchester United, but he convinced the long-time owners, the Glazer family, that he could transform the club, given the chance.
His entrance was welcomed by Manchester fans weary of 15 years of American leadership.
Ratcliffe’s entrance bore similarities to the atmosphere around the election of Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He too rose to lead a nation keen for change with a party that had not been in Government for 12 years.
In both cases, they spoke of prudence and precision, of sensible plans to get things moving in the right direction.
But barely any time into their tenures, the problems of the past, which they had the benefit of not being associated with directly, have come back to bite.
The financial picture was bleak and brutal to manage; they soon realised they’d have to make tough, unpopular decisions.
As a result, neither Ratcliffe nor Starmer has been able to deliver meaningful change. The football club and the country look the same as they did before, but the mood is even more downbeat.
To make matters worse, the positive public relations that greeted their ascents to power have been wiped out by the negative mood. The only real traction either man has got was cost-cutting measures, which have been almost universally unpopular.
The two leaders believe in structures that deliver long-term benefits, the type of thing that rarely gives the quick hit they need.
You can only think that as they ponder their next move from the Old Trafford boardroom and 10 Downing Street office, both Ratcliffe and Starmer might think, ‘this is harder than it looks.’