Michael Plant gives his thoughts after Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Brentford on Saturday.
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00:00 I don't think they offered enough going forward, I don't think defensively they were sound
00:27 enough and they were very fortunate to come away with three points but I think for the
00:31 United fans who are here today all they will be delighted about is that they have got those
00:34 three points on a very important weekend for them given the poor run and poor start of
00:38 the season they have had so far.
00:39 If we have a little quick synopsis of the game, Manchester United, not much happened
00:45 in the first 25 minutes or so until Brentford scored, three individual errors for a Manchester
00:48 United goal once again, it's just remarkable how many mistakes and how many issues there
00:51 are on this Manchester United side at the moment.
00:53 Casemiro sloppy ball in midfield, launched a Brentford counter attack, Victor Lindelof
00:59 failed to effectively clear from that, ball fell to Matthias Jansen in the Manchester
01:04 United box, he shot, Andre Nanna managed to get down and get a hand of the ball but still
01:08 couldn't keep it out, another issue, another problem for him once again, another mistake
01:11 for the new Manchester United goalkeeper which resulted in United going 1-0 down, that was
01:16 scored half time, United offered very little in that first half, didn't offer many attacks,
01:20 really disjointed actually, their attacks were very worrying display I think once again
01:25 from United, that continued into the second half, for long periods of the second half,
01:28 I mean Brentford sat really deep but once they went 1-0 up I think they were just happy
01:31 to defend, looked to break on the counter attack, I think the best thing you can say
01:34 about United is that certainly if there ever was going to be a goal in the second half
01:38 it was always going to be United who were going to score at Brentford, they did limit
01:40 Brentford's opportunities but that's as best as it gets from United.
01:44 They did create chances, to be fair to Tenhike put on a number of changes, brought on Ante
01:49 Martial, Alejandro Granacho, Anthony and Christian Eriksen but it was the fifth substitution,
01:55 fifth and final substitution of the game that made the big difference, Scott McTominay.
02:14 They losing as we went into the 90th minute, somehow come away with a 2-1 win, the first
02:18 one, I think if you look at McTominay, really good control and touch in the box, managed
02:22 to get a shot past the Brentford goalkeeper to give United a lead.
02:25 I think it was the 93rd minute and then incredibly in the 97th minute Bruno Fernandes puts in
02:30 a cross from a free kick, Harry Maguire gets a little touch on it and there's Scott McTominay
02:34 to head it home.
02:35 Look, I think it very much masks what was a disappointing afternoon once again for United,
02:39 so so underwhelming, they just continue to make so many mistakes, they cannot defend
02:46 as a unit, their attack is, you know, I was watching the game at the time and I was thinking
02:51 Brentford have a real, there's a clear plan of what Brentford want to do when they get
02:54 the ball, you know, certain players are moving in certain positions, it's all fast, it's
02:57 all quick, there's link up play between them.
02:59 United was just kind of knocking the ball about, it all seemed a bit off the cuff, it
03:02 didn't really seem there was a real plan there and look I think Ten Hag's a really good manager
03:06 but I think he's got to improve on this drastically, really, really quickly and listen, after the
03:09 game he talked about the good aspects of today, he talked about how Brentford had barely done
03:15 anything in the second half, how United deserve the three points but I think that masks so
03:18 many of the problems as I say and I think if he's honest with himself he does know that
03:23 this has to change.
03:24 He actually did say that he hopes today is kind of a bit of a turning point in the season,
03:27 it marks a decisive change and yeah, really disappointing display once again I think for
03:32 United despite taking away the three points.
03:34 Thomas Frank actually said, I mean he said it was unfair that Brentford didn't win this
03:38 game, I would agree with him, you know, certainly could not argue with that assessment I would
03:43 say, he was just quite off fair enough going forward, that they were too, perhaps being
03:54 too interested in just defending but I mean you say that it's all fine margins, if they
03:58 do manage to go away with a win then you would say they actually defended very well and to
04:01 be fair up until the goals actually United didn't really create any clear cut chances
04:05 so just a difficult one for them today for Brentford but for United, big win, especially
04:09 going into the international break, there was a whole load of records that if United
04:11 would have lost today that they would have set, I mean the first time they'd have lost
04:15 to Brentford at home since 1937, the first time in something like 37 years, since 1979
04:21 that they would have lost three home games in a row so they've avoided those records
04:25 and listen they'll have two weeks where they'll reflect on this and enjoy this but ten high
04:28 because he said afterwards we'll hope that this is a big turning point.
04:31 Just one little thing from after the game, I mean interesting today that Casemiro partly
04:36 fault for the first goal, it's had a really disappointing start to the season in my eyes
04:39 it's really so far off the player that was last season in terms of so many things, in
04:44 terms of physically he looks awful, his range of pass isn't quite at it and defensively
04:50 he's just simply not able to shield the back four, he actually played slightly more advanced
04:54 today with the softened amour-bats sitting defending, sitting shielding the back four
04:57 but Casemiro was taken off at half time to put Christian Eriksen on and ten high was
05:01 asked about that after the game and he said basically he wanted a bit more link up play,
05:05 a bit more passing range as well so I think it's a bit of a worrying trend here developing
05:10 for Casemiro, I should also say that Raphael Varane missed the game with what was described
05:14 as a minor issue, he just keeps missing so many matches through these little knocks and
05:18 little niggles it is becoming a big issue I think for United, their best defender is
05:23 out so often, Harry Maguire and Johnny Evans actually played at centre back today, I mean
05:28 fourth and fifth choice centre back starting, you had Viktor Lindelof at left back, Lindelof
05:31 was not good once again today, I think he's really been disappointed and actually last
05:35 couple of games Diogo Dalo was at right back, United were without six defenders, six senior
05:42 defenders today in terms of injury so he'll hope for the next game back which is away
05:46 to Sheffield United in two weeks obviously after the international break he will hope
05:49 that he does have some of those players back but it really is a cause for concern at the
05:53 moment for Manchester United.
05:56 As I say two week international break now but still plenty of news as always with Manchester
05:59 United and of course Manchester City as well who play Arsenal tomorrow so make sure to
06:03 check out Manchester World for all the latest news from tonight's game and then of course
06:07 from the Emirates tomorrow but from me, Michael Plant from outside Old Trafford, thank you