A new low until the next one for a broken Manchester United

With the current state of Manchester United, the next new low is just around the corner, writes Ben Burrows

Man United’s performance at Brentford raised questions as to whether or not they are capable of playing to Erik ten Hag’s instructions (PA)

Gary Neville described it as “like a men’s team against Under-9s” and it was hard to disagree.

Manchester United’s dismantling at the hands of Brentford was the headline-grabbing result of this fledgling Premier League season and really had to be seen to be believed.

The 4-0 scoreline scarcely did justice to just how dominant the Bees’ performance was on Saturday night and, by way of contrast, just how awful United were.

Goalkeeper David de Gea, at fault for three of the four goals, had an evening to forget while new signing Lisandro Martinez was ruthlessly exposed. The less said about Cristiano Ronaldo’s utterly anonymous outing the better.

The Manchester Evening News included half-time player ratings in its live blog of the game, giving all 11 players 0 out of 10, while the Manchester United Supporters Trust has since called for “urgent and radical change” after “an embarrassment – no, a humiliation” of a result, with the Glazer family’s poisonous ownership of the club firmly in the firing line.

The Brentford humiliation comes just six days after Brighton’s win over the Red Devils on the opening weekend, a first-ever victory at Old Trafford and again another 90 minutes where United were thoroughly second best.

Whichever way you look at it, it is not how new manager Erik ten Hag would have envisioned the start of his tenure after arriving from Ajax earlier this summer.

Despite being two of the division’s smallest clubs, in many ways Brighton and Brentford were the worst possible opponents for United to go up against to open their season. Two sharp, modern, progressive football clubs going in the right direction with a reliable structure underpinning a defined idea of what they want to be... they are, in short, everything that United are not.

Manchester United ended the weekend bottom of the Premier League table for the first time in 30 years. And the horror perhaps doesn’t end there – rivals Liverpool are United’s next opponents on Monday night.

Neville believed he watched “a new low” on Saturday. With the current state of Manchester United, the next one is seemingly only just around the corner.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor