Matthijs de Ligt insists Manchester United players must take responsibility for their poor results amid growing pressure on manager Rúben Amorim.

United suffered a third defeat in six Premier League games this season, losing 3-1 at Brentford on Saturday. The disappointment was compounded by a humiliating exit from the Carabao Cup at the hands of League Two side Grimsby. Portuguese boss Amorim has yet to oversee back-to-back league wins during his 10 months in charge. Following last season’s 15th-place finish—their lowest position since 1989-90—United again find themselves in the bottom half of the table this term.

“Of course, I mean it’s always easy to look to the manager, but in the end the players on the pitch have to do it,” said centre-back De Ligt. “We can’t say the goals we conceded, or the chances we conceded, are because of what. I don’t know, you guys always talk about the system. That also has a lot to do with focus, concentration and, if that’s lacking in key moments, it’s going to make a difference.”

United had seemed to build some confidence by beating Chelsea 2-1 a week earlier, although they enjoyed a numerical advantage for most of the first half at Old Trafford due to Robert Sánchez’s early red card. However, that victory was a distant memory as Brentford striker Igor Thiago scored twice inside 20 minutes on Saturday.

Benjamin Šeško pulled one back with his first goal for United, but Bruno Fernandes failed to convert a second-half penalty. Caoimhín Kelleher made the save, marking the United captain’s second spot-kick miss of the season—the first being a miss in west London against Fulham last month.

De Ligt expressed his frustration after the game: “(We are) really disappointed because all week we were speaking about keeping the momentum going, getting another win under our belt. If you lose this game, it’s a big blow, obviously. A lot of time (it is) the same song, but we have to stick together. It’s the most important thing.”

“We lost against Manchester City, we won against Chelsea, so for the next game, we have to analyse what went wrong in this game because a lot of things went wrong,” he added. “We were short in key moments where we made the wrong decisions. That makes a big difference in football. We were quite unlucky also with some chances, but overall, it was not good enough. That’s a fact.”

Looking ahead, United will host in-form Sunderland this Saturday and then visit league leaders Liverpool after the international break on October 19.

On a day when United summer signing Bryan Mbeumo returned to Brentford after spending six years at the club, Thiago took centre stage. The Brazilian forward, signed from Club Brugge for a then club-record fee of £30 million in July 2023, has scored five goals this season—four of them in the Premier League.

Bees boss Keith Andrews praised Thiago’s qualities: “Selfless, I think, would be the first thing that springs to mind. Always puts the team first, sometimes at the detriment of his own performance. I think he’s such a team player. He’s getting real rhythm in his game now and confidence in his game, and he’s shown exactly what he’s all about and why the football club brought him here.”
https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/matthijs-de-ligt-man-utd-players-must-step-up-as-pressure-grows-on-ruben-amorim-1812249.html