After leading Manchester United to a 1-3 away defeat against Brentford in Matchweek 6 of the Premier League, Red Devils manager Ruben Amorim was interviewed by the club’s official TV channel.
Ruben, how do you reflect on this game?
I think we played the game the opponent wanted us to play. It was really chaotic—fighting for second balls and first balls. If we play at the opposition’s tempo, it becomes much harder for us. We never managed to settle the game’s rhythm; we conceded two goals, and we know they’re really strong in this area. Then we tried to claw our way back, but we missed a penalty. All these moments went against us a bit, and that penalty could have changed the game.
But ultimately, I think we need to do better—and we should do better. The game had its ups and downs; that’s always the case. But the passion was there. You could see how badly everyone wanted to perform well, yet something just felt off. Yes, these moments… we also need to turn these moments to our advantage. We did that in our last game, especially in the opening stages of today’s match. My biggest worry is that we didn’t settle the rhythm, didn’t control the game, and didn’t play our own style. We should have done more of that throughout the game.
Do you think this will be the main focus of training between now and the next match?
We’re working to fix all these issues. We spent a whole week training on one-on-ones, but when they hit long balls, we still struggled in the exact same way. So we need to go back to training on this and do better in the next game.
Finally, the fans are heading home safely now—what message do you have for them?
It’s always the same after a loss: I apologize to them. But they don’t want to hear any words right now; what they want to see is action. So our job is to fight again and win the next game.
