Manchester United suffered a shock 4-0 defeat to Brentford in their second game of the English Premier League.
The Bees wasted no time in sealing Manchester United’s fate with all four goals scored in 35 minutes of the first half, on a bright sunny Saturday.
Josh Dasilva was first off the mark for Brentford 10 minutes after kickoff, after David De Gea’s mistake let the Englishman’s low shot squeeze past him, in what should have been a routine save.
Eric Ten Hag’s bold decision to settle for the combination of newbie Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire at centreback punished his side.
Martinez did not have enough experience to match up to the physicality of the league and was struggling to fend off Brentford players.
While De Gea’s night was one to forget — as would be the same for Manchester United fans altogether — when he handed Brentford an easy second goal.
Building from the back remains a big challenge for Man United and Brentford manager, Thomas Frank, was well aware and had his side press the Red Devils high from the onset.
De Gea’s suicide pass to Christian Eriksen gifted Mathias Jensen Brentford’s second goal after he snatched the ball and drilled it home.
Manchester United would only have themselves to blame for their heavy loss, after more sloppy defending allowed Ben Mee to outmuscle Martinez and nod the ball in.
Ivan Toney’s header from a corner kick provided the assist that helped Mee make it 3-0 just 30 minutes into the game.
Five minutes later, Bryan Mbeumo crashed United’s chances of any resurgence with a well-orchestrated counter-attack, that had Ivan Toney well-placed to provide a pinpoint through-pass to the Cameroon international.
Mbeumo made no mistake and calmly outmuscled Luke Shaw before slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
Eric Ten Hag, knowing he had played the wrong cards against more physical and challenging opponents, resorted to three substitutions at half-time.
The United manager replaced Martinez with Raphael Varane, Shaw with Malacia and Fred with Scot McTominay.
However, a Ronaldo-led attack was not enough to make a comeback or even score a consolation goal as they did in their 2-1 defeat against Brighton.
Manchester United now find themselves at the bottom of the Premier League table having registered no win.
Eric Ten Hag’s side has now conceded 6 goals in two games in what has been a nightmarish start to the Premier League for the club and its fans.
