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The Manchester United team’s 4-0 defeat at Brentford on August 13th, 2022, was predictable and fierce.

Chris Sutton, a pundit for BBC, mentioned how United has fallen to “rock bottom.” Karen Carney, a spokesperson for Sky Sports, said United “can’t get any lower.” Gary Neville, the former skipper, called his former team “rotten.”

Sutton and Carney made a mistake.

United spent more than half a billion pounds on new players from that heuristic at the Gtech Community Stadium until the end of the current season. Their worst performance since 1973-74 when they were relegated to the bottom of the 2024-25 campaign came at 15th place.

In the years that followed, there were positive days. United qualified for the Champions League after winning the EFL and FA Cup. However, embarrassment has also been experienced.

In their 2022 defeat at Manchester City, they conceded six, and they lost 7-0 hiding at Liverpool.

It took Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo’s late goals to give the scoreline a respectable appearance after being defeated 4-3 at Brentford in May when they were defeated 4-0 at Crystal Palace in May 2024.

United spent an additional £219.6 million on four more players this summer. When their club was defeated at League Two Grimsby in the EFL Cup in August, goalkeeper Senne Lammens was not present, but Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, one of Brentford’s scorers in 2022, and Benjamin Sesko were all involved.

For the first time in history, United fell to a fourth-tier team.

It was just another heavy thud on a long descent from Sir Alex Ferguson’s glory days, far from their rock bottom when they were defeated at Brentford three years ago.

United return to west London this weekend, trying to find some small steps back to what they once were.

It would be their first league victory under Ruben Amorim and the first time they have ever won it in a row since they won it by opening the season with a late 1-0 victory over Fulham on the last day of the season with a 2-0 victory at Brighton.

Both United and Amorim, who both won 16 of their 17 games with one draw in the fall of 2021, are shocked by this remarkable achievement.

It’s no wonder he’s not anticipating things too much.

He said, “It’s really hard, but I also know it’s a different club, with different pressures in a completely different league.”

I struggle [with] a lot, feeling that I should win and that it is perfectly normal to win.

According to some sources, United reportedly panicked right away following that four-goal hiding at Brentford.

That theory is opposed by others.

Along with France’s Adrien Rabiot, the midfield great Casemiro from Brazil and Casemiro were undoubtedly high on the list of targets. Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona was at the top.

It is now accepted that United attempted to sign new boss Erik Ten Hag for a far too long while doing so. The demand for an alternative grew more quickly as a result of the defeat at Brentford.

When United offered him sizable wages that were in line with his salary at Real Madrid, Casemiro didn’t need much convincing. He would be 35 by the time he reached a four-year contract with the option to extend it for a further season.

The merits of that particular transfer are in vogue right now. Casemiro excelled in his first season, but things started to get ugly and his lack of mobility, which was acknowledged during negotiations, led to the recognition that he would need to partner with a “runner” in midfield, started to become apparent.

Casemiro started in the Europa League final alongside skipper Bruno Fernandes in May, but after Ten Hag was fired, he eventually took control of Amorim. Not Manuel Ugarte, who cost £42 million, did it.

This season, Casemiro has started four of his fifth Premier League games. Following his red card against Chelsea, he will miss Brentford.

The only issue with Antony’s arrival, 20 days after the Brentford defeat, is whether to spend £81.3 million on someone who former club boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed was not worth more than £30 million.

Ten Hag worked for Ajax with Antony, was in search of a new wide player, and supported the Brazilian after his arrival. In the wake of that defeat at Brentford, it is unbelievable he didn’t at least pressurize the United chiefs.

The damage would have been manageable if they had been the only dubious transfers since the Brentford mess. United did finish third that season, a position they haven’t had since Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.

However, there have been many more recent additions that have either been overlooked or already left, including players who have been drafted under the new Sir Jim Ratcliffe administration.

They are free from criticism due to the signings of Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro, and Noussair Mazraoui before this summer. The recent arrivals, particularly Mbeumo and Cunha, have been positive.

However, improved statistics have not yet produced consistent outcomes.

United enter the weekend’s round of fixtures in the bottom half of the table, where they have been for the entire previous two weeks since Amorim’s second league game, where they defeated Everton 4-0 last December.

Amazingly, United have never finished the match round higher than sixth after placing third under Ten Hag. Even a win over the weekend might not be enough to accomplish that.

A further Gtech defeat will stoke more criticism and re-examine Amorim’s position.

The Prem.

Harlequins (17) 31

Cons: J Evans 3; Tries: W Evans 3; Kenningham; T Green;

Bath (14) 47

Bath, reigning champions, responded well to Harlequins’ attack with a strong second-half performance and won the title game with a bonus-point victory.

Will Evans, a flanker, scored a hat-trick in the opening 30 minutes to give the hosts a blistering start to the match.

Chandler Cunningham-South was sent to the sin-bin on 33 minutes thanks to Tom Dunn’s reply, which meant the score was 17-7.

And Bath took the lead for the first time with tries from Vilikesa Sela and Beno Obano within two minutes of the restart.

Due to injury, Harlequins lost both hookers George Turner and Jack Walker, meaning Bath made the most of the gap in the Quins pack’s attack in the final 26 minutes.

At the start of the new Prem season, the hosts showed no signs of rustiness, with Evans scoring twice in the opening eight minutes as Harlequins put pressure on the reigning champions before cutting off after Green and Cadan Murley had long runs.

Before Evans dotting over after Alex Dombrandt had broken through the line, Dunn soared over from a Bath line-out to give the visitors a hat-trick.

Sela scored from the tap-and-go five meters out before Cunnigham-South hit the sin-bin.

In the second half, Bath won the game and scored on an insider run from Arundell, with Obano completing the score.

After taking a big hit in a play where Ollie Lawrence’s try was disallowed after Joe Cokanasiga had stepped into touch during the build-up, Turner had to go off after taking the ball at half-time.

Without any hookers to call upon, the hosts relied on South African prop Jordan Els to continue the game with uncontested scrums.

Arundell, an England back in his first start, ran into the corner of a successful team move as Bath seized control of the game.

Before Arundell got his second of the match, Griffin and Underhill added their names to the scoresheet, while Kenningham responded for the hosts, and Green scored with the final arc of the match.

Replacements: Anderson, Els, Streeter, J Green, Carr, M Green, Kolade, and Turner

Sin-bin: Cunningham-South]33]

Bath: De Glanville, Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, Arundell, Ojomoh, Spencer, Obano, Dunn, Sela, Roux, Ewels, Bayliss, Pepper, Reid

Replacements: Underhill, Carr-Smith, Van Wyk, Tuipulotu, Van Wyk, Griffin, Molony, Hill, Carr-Smith, Harris, and Underhill

Play-off eliminator for Betfred Super League

Leigh (18) 26

Goals: O’Brien 5

Wakefield (0) 10

In their first Super League play-off eliminator, the Leigh Leopards defeated Wakefield Trinity 26-10 to advance to the semi-finals.

The visitors controlled the first half thanks to tries from Keanan Brand, Isaac Liu, and Josh Charnley, who finished nine points clear of Trinity in the regular season.

Wakefield had hoped in the opening period of the second half thanks to Jayden Myers’ response, but Cameron Scott’s super solo try was merely consolation due to a Gaz O’Brien penalty and Alec Tuitavake’s score.

As Leigh prepares to reach their first-ever Grand Final, they will need to travel to second-placed Wigan in the semi-finals.

Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, and Dwyer make changes.

Wakefield includes McMeeken, Hood, Faatili, Griffin, Storton, Pitts, Myers, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone, Trueman, Lino, Myers, Myers, Scott, Myers, Scott, Pratt, and Scott.

Rodwell, Nikotemo, Atoni, and Smith swapped.