Man Utd Humiliated by Brentford in EPL

Manchester United put in an abject display at Brentford Community Stadium, succumbing to the West London club 4-0. It is the first time they have suffered defeat to the Bees since 1938.

THE MATCH

The first goal of the match saw Josh Dasilva’s shot slip through the fingers of David de Gea just ten minutes into the contest. A worrying sign of things to come. The second goal can be attributed to a clanger from David de Gea as well. Mathias Jensen took advantage of that to double the Bees' lead.

The third came as Ben Mee out-jumped Lisandro Martinez from a set-piece situation to head home his first goal in Brentford colours. The fourth was a beautiful sweeping counter-attacking move. Bryan Mbeumo finished that move to put the Bees 4-0 ahead.

A 4-0 scoreline is bad enough for a team with the history of the Red Devils. That it was only 35 minutes into the contest was absolutely unbelievable.

Cristiano Ronaldo was petulant, fed up and, most alarmingly, completely anonymous in the first half. The crowd booed former Bee Christian Eriksen every time he touched the ball. And Luke Shaw, Fred and Lisandro Martinez were all hauled off at halftime in the ultimate humiliation for a player.

Although there can be no doubt about the pathetic display from Manchester United, we shouldn’t lose sight of how brilliant Brentford was, particularly in the first half. United simply could not hang with their pressing game, which Thomas Franks' men executed to perfection.

Undoubtedly, the big news here is Manchester United’s capitulation. The Red Devils were supposed to embark on a new dawn with the appointment of Erik ten Hag. Instead, it is more of the same listless, pathetic, uninspired football that blighted the reigns of nearly every manager since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.

MANAGER COMMENTS

Thomas Frank (Brentford)

“I don’t think it's that often any team wins 4-0 in the Premier League and especially not against Man United. These players keep giving me and the fans memories for life,” a jubilant Thomas Frank said. When asked if he targeted Lisandro Martinez at set pieces this is what he had to say :

“We knew that more likely we would either win it or have the second ball around it. We looked at their team and also looked at what Brighton did against them."

Erik ten Hag (Man Utd)

“I can bring up several things why [it’s gone wrong so far], but it looks like excuses, and excuses are not there in a top [club]. We have to deliver, and we didn’t do.” ten Hag said.

“We have to change. That’s quite clear. We have to start better, we have to stick to the team, stick to the plan… We didn’t do that today. One mistake, okay, can happen. But then a second and a third mistake – it’s not acceptable. It is what we have to work on and players have to know that.”

BY THE NUMBERS

• Erik ten Hag is the first Manchester United boss in more than a century to lose his first two league matches

• United have lost seven consecutive league away games for the first time since 1936 [a run that also included a loss to Brentford, coincidentally]

• That run of seven consecutive away defeats has seen them concede 21 goals and score just twice.

• Manchester United finished this fixture dead last in the premier league table for the first time in30 years.

• It was their first loss to Brentford since 1938

It's not just the historical stats that make for damning reading for everyone attached to United. The match stats are just as hard to read.

• Brentford's xG was 1.4 to United's 0.4

• Brentford players outran United 109.4km to 96km

• Brentford managed 7 shots on target to United's 4

• The Bees starting XI cost just £45.5 million. A snip compared to Manchester United's starting XI which cost over a quarter of a billion pounds.

Next up for Brentford is a West London derby against newly promoted Fulham. For United, it is the small matter of the M62 Derby against hated rivals, Liverpool.

Stuart Kavanagh is a journalist currently residing in Broken Hill, Australia. He writes for the Barrier Truth newspaper, along with being a contributing editor at thesportsbank.net.

He also co-hosts the ‘After Extra Time’ podcast and contributes at edgeofthecrowd.com when time permits.

Football mad, he is always down for debate and discussion at @stueyissickofit on Twitter.