OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER — Manchester United came from a goal down to secure a battling 2-1 Premier League win over Brentford and give under-fire manager Erik ten Hag a timely boost.
Ten Hag went into the October international break with speculation over his future mounting as United languished 14th in the table.
Those questions only looked set to get louder when Ethan Pinnock headed Brentford in front in first-half stoppage time — a goal that drew a furious response from the home bench, with Ten Hag booked, as they protested over the injured Matthijs de Ligt not being allowed to re-enter the field.
The fact the Netherlands international was having a blood injury he sustained through colliding with Kevin Schade's knee tended to for the third time made the officials' decision understandable.
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Nevertheless, a sense of righteous indignation galvanized an Old Trafford crowd that might have otherwise been sapped by going behind and the excellent Alejandro Garnacho steered home a volley from Marcus Rashford's Beckham-esque right-wing cross within two minutes of the restart.
United's winner was even easier on the eye as former Brentford midfielder Christian Eriksen fizzed a pass into Bruno Fernandes. With his back to goal on the edge of the box, the Portugal playmaker produced a deft backheel to release Rasmus Hojlund. The Denmark striker responded in kind, artfully dinking his first Premier League goal of the season over Mark Flekken and into the far corner.
The win puts United above Brentford and up into 10th. Ambitions in these parts remain far loftier than simply being in the top half. But on an afternoon where Ten Hag displayed his tactical acumen to fine effect against the highly rated Thomas Frank in the opposite technical area, it was a much-needed and overdue step in the right direction.
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Venue: Old Trafford, ManchesterReferee: Sam Barrott (England)
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Lineups:
Man United (4-3-3 right to left): 24. Andre Onana (GK) — 20. Diogo Dalot, 35. Jonny Evans (2. Victor Lindelof), 4. Matthijs de Ligt, 6. Lisandro Martinez — 8. Bruno Fernandes, 18. Casemiro (25. Manuel Ugarte), 14. Christian Eriksen —17. Alejandro Garnacho (3. Noussair Mazraoui), 9. Rasmus Hojlund (11. Joshua Zirkzee), 10. Marcus Rashford
Brentford (4-3-3 right to left): 1. Mark Flekken (GK) — 4. Sepp van den Berg (30. Mads Roerslev), 22. Nathan Collins, 5. Ethan Pinnock, 20. Kristoffer Ajer — 6. Christian Norgaard, 27. Vitaly Janelt (Fabio Carvalho), 24. Mikkel Damsgaard — 19. Bryan Mbuemo, 7. Kevin Schade (18. Yehor Yarmoliuk), 23. Keane Lewis-Potter (11. Yoane Wissa)
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That's all folks. A hard-fought, much-needed and ultimately deserved win for Erik ten Hag's side, who could easily have disappeared beneath the waves after going behind at home once again. Alejandro Garnacho, who was a menace all afternoon, and Rasmus Hojlund had other ideas and United are into the top half. Crisis over? Crisis averted? Crisis perpetual? Who knows, in all honesty but that was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Red Devils. Now he just needs to order some more head glue for De Ligt. Thanks for joining us.
90 mins+5: All hands to the pump in the United box. The ball fall to Carvalho, who drags his shot wide. That should be that.
90 mins+1: Mazraoui on for Garnacho, who has been the best player on the pitch today. Ten Hag shutting up shop... or inviting Brentford on?
90 mins: Eriksen's corner is not great but he gets back to mop up the Brentford counter. Herre they come again, though. Ooof, Yarmoliuk absolutely welts one just over from outside the box. Five minutes stoppage time.
89 mins: Rashford hares down the right channel and his shot is deflected behind.
87 mins: Roerslev replaces Van den Berg for Brentford, who now have an awful lot of tall players on the pitch if you were wondering about how they might try to salvage this. Casemiro is receiving treatment so Ugarte is preparing to come on. Lindelof too. Onana and Fernandes in animated conversation about something or another. Evans makes way for Lindelof
84 mins: De Ligt charging down the right wing now. He might just have had a bit of a hero-making afternoon. Garnacho fires of another shot and Flekken gets behind it.
81 mins: Zirkzee with a chance to finish things but he can't get the ball under control and Flekken pounces.
74 mins: Hojlund took a whack from Ajer just then and he makes way to a standing ovation. Zirkzee on to try and help United over the line. Double change for Brentford as Yarmoliuk and Carvalho replace Schade and Janelt.
69 mins: Could, maybe should be 3-1 to United! Dalot, whose positioning has been a problem for Brentford all second half, bustles into the box but fires too close to Flekken.
66 mins: Frank turns to his bench, with the returning Wissa on for Lewis-Potter.
62 mins: GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!! Rasmus Hojlund!!!!
United lead and that's beautifully done. Brentford play out poorly, Eriksen fires a pass in to Fernandes, whose delightful backheel finds Hojlund. If you thought that was deft, check out the dinked finish from the young Dane.
61 mins: Garnacho with space to operate outside Van den Berg but his cross is wasteful. Nevertheless, Brentford allowing the dangerous Argentina youngster that much room feels like a red flag.
60 mins: Corner is taken short. One from the training ground. Probably should have stated there. Anyway, United still have the ball until Flekken holds a Fernandes drive.
59 mins: Hojlund comes deep nicely to link play. He feeds Garnacho, whose cross is cleared behind.
55 mins: De Ligt gets up to head a Brentford free-kick and actually doesn't look like an extra out of Saw. Success! Norgaard cynically stops the United counter by bringing down Garnacho and is booked.
52 mins: Sun glaring into the Brentford area so "shoot on sight" feels like a sound police. Casemiro does so and Flekken beats clear. Now Fernandes clatters one across the face of goal. Old Trafford rocking and the visitors on the ropes.
51 mins: Garnacho is everywhere and Brentford can't contain him anywhere. He drills a low shot that Flekken turns unconvincingly behind. His defence see off the corner.
47 mins: GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!! Alejandro Garnacho!!!!
It's been a fast start to this half from a righteously indignant United and they're level. It's a lovely goal too and Rashford swings in a Beckham-esque cross from deep and Garnacbo steers home a volley at the far post.
We're back underway. De Ligt appears to have half a tub of Vaseline on his head and no bandage. I'm no medic, but what on earth is going on?
Ten Hag an Jonny Evans each into the book for their protests. Old Trafford seething at the officials. The second half could be spicy.
45+5 mins: GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!! Ethan Pinnock!!!
Uh oh, Brentford lead. Pinnock powers home an unchallenged header. The sort De Ligt would pride himself from preventing happening. The Dutchman is fuming on the touchline. Is he angry with the medical staff who couldn't patch him up? No, it looks more like him and United assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy are directing their rage at the officials for not letting him back on the field. In fairness, the fact De Ligt looked like he'd turned up a week too early for a Halloween party is probably a big part of the reason he was not allowed on the field.
45+4 mins: De Ligt, looking like a heavyweight after 12 brutal rounds, sticks with Schade enough to block. He's bleeding terribly again though and has to go off.
45 mins: Lovely feet from Damsgaard but the cross has too much on it for Lewis-Potter. We'll have four added minutes. Most of that was down to the treatment required by De Ligt, who is now bleeding all the way down his head again.
42 mins: First chance to break for a while for Brentford. Mbeumo has Evans in his sights but Martinez scampers back well, applying enough pressure so that the pass to Schade is over-hit.
41 mins: Garnacho again, this time onto his right foot and a bobbling shot that Flekken pushes back into the danger zone. Pinnock hacks into the Stretford End. Brentford clear the corner.
39 mins: Garnacho is making life tough for Brentford. This time he darts inside and slips a pass to Hojlund, who turns towards the penalty area and puts a low shot wide from 20 yards.
37 mins: Fabulous United move but Garnacho can't find the finish! All the front three are involved, with Hojlund offloading to Rashford on halfway despite a chopping tackle from Collins. Rashford fizzes a glorious crossfield ball to Garnacho, who has another run at Van den Berg and crashes over the near post.
34 mins: Eriksen blazes over against his former club! Casemiro hauls Collins aside in the box. In all fairness to the Brentford centre-back, that was probably a foul. Eriksen dashes onto the loose ball but hammers over from 10 yards. Brentford restart with a goalkick, not a free-kick, so would have needed VAR to save them.
33 mins: Deft backheel from Casemiro to his midfield partner Eriksen. Pinnock blocks the shot.
32 mins: Eriksen is able to clear at the near post. Brentford's set plays not to their usual standard today, it must be said.
31 mins: Norgaaard with space to fire goalwards from outside the box. Superb save from Onana!
30 mins: Van den Berg gets himself in a bit of a mess under a bouncing ball, but sort of spins around with it on his nose like a seal and get out of hot water. Decent improvisation.
29 mins: Fernandes just tried to steer a volley through-ball and went down clutching his standing leg. He's still limping now.
26 mins: Flekken claims from the corner and launches the ball forward. Dalot does very well indeed under the low sunlight to mop up the danger with Mbeumo breathing down his neck.
25 mins: A patient United attack ends with Garnacho shifting outside Van den Berg and firing goalwards. Flekken pushes behind at his near post.
21 mins: Second United corner of a promising spell of pressure from the hosts. Martinez glances at the near post, Flekken fumbles badly but just gets back in time to thwart Hojlund. A let off for the visitors.
17 mins: United already looking familiarly pedestrian in midfield as Brentford cut through the middle of the pitch. Mbeumo treads on the ball and Martinez doesn't need a second invitation to steal in.
16 mins: De Ligt back with us and Eriksen clears out of the United box. Pinnock might test out the Dutchman's patch-up job with this long throw... cleared to the edge of the box, where Damsgaard smashes his volley into the crowd.
14 mins: De Ligt is down and needs treatment because, and I'm being absolutely serious, he stooped into a challenge and headed Schade's knee. He did a solid job of it because Brentford's Germany forward is limping a bit. Anyway, Thomas Frank is launching into an impromptu team talk. Victor Lindelof is going through his warmups. This could be bad news for De Ligt.
11 mins: De Ligt is down and needs treatment because, and I'm being absolutely serious, he stooped into a challenge and headed Schade's knee. He did a solid job of it because Brentford's Germany forward is limping a bit. Anyway, Thomas Frank is launching into an impromptu team talk. Victor Lindelof is going through his warmups. This could be bad news for De Ligt.
7 mins: Mbeumo sizes Martinez up, cuts inside and fires over from the right-hand corner of the box. Feels like a warning shot. Up the other end, Van de Berg blocks Garnacho's cross and it deflects back off the United winger for a goal kick.
3 mins: Almost another early Brentford goal! Lewis-Potter swings in the cross and Schade misses his kick before Martinez scrambles out for a throw. That comes in long from Pinnock and Onana coolly gathers.
2 mins: Fernandes fizzes a teasing ball in from the left that Flekken watches all the way into his gloves with Hojlund lurking.
The hosts get us underway and hog the ball. Which is obviously a pretty good way of stopping Brentford from scoring inside a minute.
1 min before kickoff: Brenford have turned the teams around and kick towards K Stand. Did the 1st minute goal plan just kick into action?
4 mins before kickoff: Here comes to the teams to the familiar strains of "This Is The One" by the Stone Roses. Ten Hag could do for something similarly euphoric from the men in red today. Brentford in their fetching light pink shirts and purple shorts.
15 mins before kickoff: Old Trafford filling up now as kickoff approaches. The atmosphere is somewhere between muted and murmuring at this point. It feels like Ten Hag's men will need to start well to get the crowd onside. Maybe start like... Brentford?
40 mins before kickoff: Martinez's selection should at least mean an outing for Diogo Dalot in his natural position and a chance for the Portugal full-back to express himself. Dalot is one of the few indisputable transfer success stories at Old Trafford over recent seasons and is the cover star on today's matchday programme. He had warm words for the United fans.
When you play for a club and have that love for the club it's the perfect match. When you spend more time on the pitch and you know the emotions it brings to the fans, then you start becoming a little more like them.
1 hour before kickoff: Here's how Brentford line up. Striker Yoane Wissa is back on the bench after his lay-off but Mathias Jensen has not made it. Assuming Martinez plays at left-back, his battle with Bryan Mbeumo looks set to be key. Only Erling Haaland has more goals in the Premier League this season than the Brentford right winger.
Your Bees to face United 🐝#MUNBRE pic.twitter.com/Narjbl80hf
1 hr 15 mins before kickoff: The teams are in. Lisandro Martinez returns to the United defence, seemingly at left-back with Diogo Dalot shifting over to his natural position on the right of the back four. Alejandro Garnacho is fit to start after his knee complaint. Manuel Ugarte is only able to make the bench.
📋 Your United XI to take on Brentford 🤝#MUFC || #MUNBRE
1 hr 20 mins before kickoff: Here in the Old Trafford press room, the screens have just replayed the closing stages of United's incredible 2-1 victory in this fixture last season, when Scott McTominay came off the bench to score twice in the dying minutes and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The Scotland midfielder is now living it up with Napoli, a PSR-influences sale that Ten Hag lamented yesterday. Who can step forward to be United's hero today?
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2 hours before kickoff: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of Manchester United vs. Brentford from Old Trafford. Erik ten Hag held onto his job over the international break but, boy, does he need a win.
The Premier League match kicks off in Manchester, UK at 3 p.m. local time.
Here's how that time translates across some of the major territories:
Kobbie Mainoo (knee) is sidelined for the next few weeks. meaning Casemiro and Christian Eriksen start in central midfield. Manuel Ugarte was forced off during the closing stages of Uruguay's 0-0 draw with Ecuador and is only fit enough for a place on the bench alongside Noussair Mazraoui and Amad.
Full-back continues to be a problem position. Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia remain on the sidelines, meaning a return out of position at left-back for Lisandro Martinez, with Diogo Dalot shifting across to his more natural position on the right of the defence.
Matthijs de Ligt and the veteran Jonny Evans are the starting centre-backs after Harry Maguire joined Leny Yoro in the treatment room.
Man United (4-3-3 right to left): Onana (GK) Dalot, Evans, De Ligt, Martinez — Fernandes, Casemiro, Eriksen —Garnacho, Hojlund, Rashford
Man United subs: Bayindir (GK), Lindelof, Mazraoui, Zirkzee, Amad, Antony, Ugarte, Wheatley, Fletcher
Mathias Jensen scored in Brentford's dramatic 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford 12 months ago but remains out with a calf injury
Rico Henry (knee) is likely to remain out until November but forward Yoane Wissa is back on the bench after missing the past three games with an ankle injury.
Joshua Dasilva (knee), Igor Thiago (knee) and Gustavo Nunes (back) remain out.
Brentford predicted XI (4-3-3, right to left): Flekken (GK) — Van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer — Norgaard, Janelt, Damsgaard — Mbuemo, Schade, Lewis-Potter
Brentford subs: Valdimarsson (GK), Wissa, Carvalho, Mee, Yarmoliuk, Meghoma, Konak, Trevitt, Roerslev
Here is how to watch the match in some of the world's major regions:
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Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.
