Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo admits the players “need to take responsibility” for their poor start to the season, which has put head coach Ruben Amorim under serious pressure.
Man Utd have only won twice this season, with their 3-1 loss at Brentford leaving them 14th in the Premier League table.
Sitting down with Sky Sports News, Mbeumo, who joined United in the summer from Brentford in a deal worth up to £71m, reflected on Saturday’s disappointing loss to his former club.
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“Obviously disappointed with the result, I had a warm welcome back from the fans and I will never forget that,” he said.
“I think everyone in the team needs to take responsibility. When you play in a club this big, everyone needs to know what to do – as a team, we need to do better.”
Mbeumo has a unique perspective of the situation, having seen the noise outside of United and now witnessing it on the inside.
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The scrutiny has recently come from all directions. From former captains Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville to their away fans demanding them to ‘attack, attack, attack’ against Brentford in a lacklustre performance.
Mbeumo said: “Obviously it’s different, it’s not the same, but the only thing we want to be focused on is ourselves, we just try to listen to what’s going on inside.
“It’s not that hard [to block the noise out], obviously, the main thing we see is on social media, so it’s just not going on there much, and you just have to stay focused on your own things.”
Mbeumo ‘excited’ by being part of attacking trio
For all of the negativity that seems to surround Man Utd at this present time, there was a moment at the weekend that Amorim and United fans had been waiting for.
That was the sight of summer signings Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Mbeumo starting a Premier League game together for the first time.
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Highlights from Brentford’s match against Manchester United in the Premier League
United spent over £200m on their new attacking trio, and now the focus will be on seeing how quickly they can click to catapult the team up the table.
“It’s exciting, because we get to learn to play with new players and it’s always challenging, but that’s what we like as footballers,” Mbeumo said.
“Of course it will improve, we haven’t played a lot together, so there are certain things that we’re going to improve, and there are different types of players, but it’s good to be with them.”
One of Mbeumo’s other team-mates is Bruno Fernandes, who has had a rollercoaster of a season himself.
He scored the crucial winning penalty against Burnley but then missed spot-kicks against Fulham and Brentford – and although the United captain has often had to front up to criticism of his side, Mbeumo agreed to the idea that his team-mates may need to support their skipper in these difficult moments as well.
The 26-year-old said: “It’s important to support him because this is what he’s doing every time.
“I think it’s normal for us to carry him as well sometimes because he gives us a lot, and it’s good for him to have us as well.”
