Covering: Brentford 4-0 Manchester United, Gary Neville takes aim at the Glazers, Michael Knighton returns…
Good morning.
The performance on Saturday was pathetic – summed up with David de Gea’s howler that gave Jay Dasilva the ultimate chance to open the scoring. Or the sloppy play between De Gea and Christian Eriksen which contributed to Brentford’s second. The third goal saw Ben Mee beat Lisandro Martinez at the back post, while the fourth goal gave United a taste of direct attacking football with few touches.
For the second half, we couldn’t score a goal but at least De Gea stopped conceding goals. It’s almost impossible to know where to begin with this game because I don’t recall many occasions where I’ve been *that* embarrassed by the team. This group of players are prone to such performances; however, it’s clear that they are playing without confidence.
Brentford made life difficult for United by enforcing a high press. Thomas Frank knew our midfield would struggle to deal with that, so they pushed back our defence even further and counted on De Gea to have a difficult evening between the sticks.
United were weak all over the pitch and that’s something that worries me. Obviously, we want to sign a midfielder or two in the next week, but I see so many problems with our defence and attack. The Glazers are to thank for not having United prepared for life under Erik ten Hag, not the other way around.
Read the full newsletter here…
