It was just one of many contradictions that add up to a lot of confusion about Manchester United, especially as regards where they go next. In Saturday’s latest setback, the obvious focus was on how they struggled with Brentford’s bombardment. United’s own backline couldn’t help but just look at high balls raining down on them. Ruben Amorim himself mentioned “long balls”.
And yet while that approach presented the Portuguese with his most immediate problem – particularly with how United quickly went 2-0 down to two Igor Thiago goals – it wasn’t the main problem.
