Heavy defeat initially exposed United’s direct style of football (5,3)

I believe the answer is:

route one

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'direct style of football' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'heavy defeat initially exposed united's' is the wordplay.
'heavy defeat' becomes 'rout' (I've seen this before).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'united' becomes 'one' (as in a phrase like 'we are one').
The initial letter of 'exposed' is 'e'.
'rout'+'e'+'one'='ROUTE ONE'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.

Connecting...