Micah Richards described Manchester United’s defending in their 3-1 Premier League defeat to Brentford as ‘shambolic’.
United’s struggles under Ruben Amorim continued on Saturday as Keith Andrews’ Brentford clinched a huge win at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Manchester United failed to deal with Brentford’s direct style of play, falling 2-0 behind inside 20 minutes.
Igor Thiago rifled home Brentford’s opener after beating United’s offside trap and scored his side’s second shortly after.
Benjamin Sesko’s first Manchester United goal cut the deficit but the visitors were unable to find an equaliser, Bruno Fernandes missing a penalty in the second half.
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Any hopes of a United comeback were dashed deep into injury-time when Mathias Jensen completed a counter-attack with a crisp strike past Altay Bayindir.
The defeat means Amorim’s side have won just two of their first seven games of the season and could be as low as 17th by the end of the weekend.
Manchester United are also still yet to win two successive league games under Amorim, who is coming up to a year in charge of the club.
Former England defender Richards was alarmed by United’s defending against Brentford and was particularly critical of Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt.
‘It was shambolic,’ Richards told BBC Sport. ‘I still think the system is hampering them. They’re not sure where they’re meant to be.
‘In terms of the goals though, there were individual errors. Harry Maguire trying to play offside for the first one – there’s no point gambling there.
‘Then, for the second goal, De Ligt doesn’t know where’s he’s going and then Maguire isn’t sure where to position himself. It’s 100% confusion caused by playing that system – it doesn’t suit the players there.
‘I think because Ruben Amorim is being so stubborn in what he’s trying to do, it could be the undoing of him down the line.
‘We can talk about the owners backing him but ultimately it’s just not working.’
Fellow former England star Joe Cole was also shocked by Manchester United’s performance in west London.
Speaking on TNT Sports, he said: ‘Brentford were best in every department today. For United, it is abysmal. The whole culture of the club is insipid.’
Ex-England striker Peter Crouch added: ‘Manchester United couldn’t cope defensively. The centre forward Thiago was causing so many problems.
‘They got bullied at times the centre-halves. United didn’t have enough going forward, it didn’t feel like they were creating much and a really bad day at the office, again.’
Manchester United welcome newly-promoted Sunderland to Old Trafford next weekend before the second international break of the season.
Brentford, who were widely tipped to struggle following Thomas Frank’s departure, move up to 11th and return to action next weekend against Manchester City.
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