It was strange - Former Liverpool star blast Amorim's 'lack of knowhow'

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy echoed these concerns, stating the basic principles of a system with wing-backs involve pressing wide players quickly, something he didn't see United doing.

Murphy did not hold back in his criticism of Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim's tactics following their 4-3 defeat to Brentford on Sunday.

Amorim fielded a youthful and inexperienced starting eleven, handing debuts to Chido Obi-Martin, Harry Amass, and Tyler Fredricson. Despite Mason Mount's early goal, Brentford surged to a 4-1 lead before late goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo provided a glimmer of hope for the Red Devils.

This loss marked their 16th Premier League defeat of the season and extended their winless run to six games.  

Murphy further questioned Amorim's inflexibility, noting that he consistently employs the same system without adapting personnel or tactics, despite being at the club for a significant period.

He argued that with such consistent implementation in training, more improvement should be evident regardless of the players on the pitch.  

He said, "It’s strange, because that’s why you play a back five with wingbacks. They have to put pressure on the ball or otherwise you get outnumbered in the midfield and the ball comes back into midfield. It was strange, but they had a lot of young players.

He continued, "There was a lack of movement and a lack of know how on the pitch. They’ve got a 17-year-old lad up front – the youngest ever to start up front for United – and they’re just launching balls up to him. I really felt for Obi today because you can tell he’s inexperienced but it looked like he had no help, they were just throwing balls up to him."  

Despite their poor league form, Manchester United hold a commanding 3-0 lead over Athletic Club heading into the second leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday.