A shambolic Manchester United side conceded four goals in the opening 35 minutes in a 4-0 drubbing at Brentford on Saturday as their woeful start to the Premier League season continued.
United’s seventh successive away league defeat was assured long before the interval as Brentford took ruthless advantage of a catalog of errors by the visitors.
The route began in the 10th minute when United keeper David de Gea allowed a weak shot by Josh Dasilva to slip past him.
Things got worse for United eight minutes later when De Gea played the ball out to former Brentford player Christian Eriksen, who was caught in possession and Mathias Jensen slotted home.
When United’s defense failed to deal with a corner and Ben Mee glanced in a close-range header to make it 3-0, the Brentford fans were ecstatic while United’s new manager Erik ten Hag looked ashen-faced in his technical area.
Brentford’s fourth was a gem as Ivan Toney delivered a diagonal ball to Bryan Mbeumo from a counter-attack and Mbeumo calmly beat De Gea.
Ten Hag made three substitutions at half-time with Raphael Varane, Tyrell Malacia and Scott McTominay coming on, but despite a slight improvement United offered little fight.
Brentford’s fans serenaded their players with “Hey Jude” at the final whistle while United’s players looked crestfallen as they trudged off rock bottom of the table, having also lost their opener at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
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It was the first time since 1960 that United have conceded at least six goals in their first two matches of a top-flight season and the first time they have lost their opening two matches since 1992 — when they went on to win the title.
This side, however, looks woefully inadequate to mount any kind of challenge and Ten Hag, who was taunted by the Brentford fans, appears to have a huge job on his hands.
The Dutchman is the first Manchester United manager to lose his first two games in charge since John Chapman in 1921.
“It’s easy to dismantle this United side, just be organized and fight and you’re there,” said former United player and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.
For Brentford, whose starting line-up cost in the region of 55 million pounds ($93.75 million) compared to the more than 400 million pounds ($681.5 million) of United’s, have picked up four points in their first two games.
The crushing defeat will do nothing to soothe the feelings of Manchester United fans, already angry at club owners the Glazer family.
Poor results and a perceived failure to sign the right players to revamp the team in the off-season had left fans continuing long-standing calls for the Glazers to sell the club.
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United fans on social media are trying to organize a boycott of next week’s home game against long-time rivals Liverpool, using the hashtag Empty Old Trafford.
In other Premier League action, defending champions Manchester City swept to the top of the table, thumping newly-promoted Bournemouth 4-0 to emphasize the gulf between them and neighbors United.
City under manager Pep Guardiola have scored six times and are yet to concede in two games this campaign, as they bid for a fifth Premier League title in six seasons.
Arsenal are the big improvers so far this season, sitting second to City on goal difference after their 4-2 win over Leicester City.
New signing Gabriel Jesus marked his home debut with a brilliant performance, scoring twice and setting up two more.
Southampton and Leeds ended 0-0, as did Fulham and Wolves and Brighton’s match against Newcastle, while Everton lost 2-1 to Aston Villa.
Reuters/ABC
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