After the high of the Liverpool game a fortnight earlier, United came crashing back down to earth with a draw at Brentford.
In reality, United were lucky to come away with a point. Brentford registered 31 shots, hit the woodwork 4 times and had an Ivan Toney goal disallowed for a marginal offside. The result was made all the more frustrating as, despite the home team’s dominance, United looked to have snatched the win with a 96th-minute Mason Mount goal, only for Brentford’s Ajer to equalise 3 minutes later.
With wins for both Villa and Spurs, the result leaves United 11 points off a guaranteed Champions League place for next season, albeit with a game in hand.
Manager Erik Ten Hag condemned United’s lack of desire, focus and aggression over the 90 minutes but said he wasn’t concerned about the number of shots conceded.
Jekyll and Hyde United
Following United this season is just so frustrating.
After the epic quarter-final win against Liverpool, we wrote that the result should galvanise the team in the following matches and lead to some big performances. The starting line-up was the same as in that game and Brentford are nowhere as good a team as Liverpool.
But against Brentford it was the same United that have lost to the likes of West Ham, Bournemouth, Forest, Fulham and others that showed up.
There was practically no control in midfield, our wingers made little headway and yet again, Rasmus Hojlund was feeding off scraps. It was only through a combination of good defending, Andre Onana making some crucial saves and luck that United were level for as long as they were. Although Mason Mount’s late goal would have handed United a result we didn’t deserve, United were so naive in the way that they conceded; Aaron Wan-Bissaka failing to step up to play the offside trap and Kristoffer Ajer being left free in the box to slot home.
The best version of United has the ability to get big results, but the inconsistency between games and teams of different abilities is worrying.
The injury merry-go-round
One thing that can’t be overlooked this season is United’s injury troubles.
Fan-favourite Lisandro Martinez returned against Brentford after a lengthy lay-off, as did Mason Mount. Martinez looked solid enough and Mount scored his first goal for United, which he took well under pressure.
However, as has been of typical United’s season, those two positives were tempered by another double injury blow; both of our starting centre halves, Raphael Varana and Victor Lindelof, went off injured, and are due for further assessments in the coming days. With another two league games in the coming week, it’s far from ideal for United.
Player ratings and MOTM
Onana – 7 & MOTM. Made a number of big saves to keep United in the match.
Dalot – 5.5. Defended well at times but gave the ball away too often and offered little going forward.
Varane – 6.5. Probably our best player in the first half with plenty of blocks and headers, but ended up going off injured.
Lindelof – 6. Struggled at times against Ivan Toney but played his part. Also came off injured.
Wan-Bissaka – 4. Looked like a man playing out of position, and his positioning was poor for the Brentford goal.
McTominay – 4. Struggled to make any impact at all and offered United no control in midfield.
Mainoo – 5.5. Started OK but faded, potentially due to tiredness from his England exploits and subsequent illness. Looks better when he has Casemiro alongside him in the centre of the park.
Fernandes – 5. Kept going and tried to make things happen as always but it wasn’t working and he gave the ball away too often.
Garnacho – 4. Offered very little and was brought off for Antony after an hour.
Rashford – 4. Similar to Garnacho; aside from a bright opening ten minutes offered very little.
Hojlund – 4. Starved of service and offered little. Had his one big chance well-saved by Brentford keeper Flekken.
Subs:
Maguire (on for Varane on 45′) – 5.5. Shored up the defence well enough.
Martinez (on for Lindelof on 69′) – 5.5. Looked solid enough after 8 weeks out.
Antony (on for Garnacho on 59′) – 6. Had a few dangerous moments and went close with a curling effort.
Casemiro (on for Mainoo on 80′) – 6. Gave the midfield more bite and set up United’s goal.
Mount (on for Rashford on 87′) – 7. Scored and excellent goal under pressure, which was almost the matchwinner.
Looking ahead
There’s no time to dwell on this result as United have another two tough league games this week: Chelsea away on Thursday and Liverpool at home on Sunday.
Of course, Champions League qualification is still technically possible but looks unlikely. Playing for pride and also to stop our biggest rivals is more realistic. Of course, we always have the FA Cup to look forward to. One thing is for certain – Ten Hag needs to get into the team before Thursday as this performance just wasn’t good enough.
Watch this space.
