Erik ten Hag and Thomas Frank have disagreed over a controversial moment as Manchester United came from behind to beat Brentford 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds secured a crucial victory on Saturday afternoon, ending a winless run of five matches across all competitions, to come from behind at Old Trafford.
Brentford took the lead just before half-time when Ethan Pinnock headed home from a corner. However, United had to wait until after the break to respond, with Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund both finding the back of the net.
Their goals were brilliantly set up by Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, respectively, which turned the game on its head in United’s favour. It took us a while to get going but the Reds dominated the second half by some margin.
De Ligt talking point
Brentford’s goal before the break caused a lot of debate in the aftermath.
Referee forced De Ligt to leave the pitch on multiple occasions, including the final seconds before the break when United had to defend a Brentford corner.
That was when Pinnock headed in the corner.
The rulebook states that if a player is subject to a bloody wound, they must leave the field of play until the bleeding has been stopped.
De Ligt’s cut kept opening which cause the problems.
Ten Hag has explained that he and his squad felt injustice at half-time because they believe the referee made the wrong call as De Ligt was not bleeding.
The referee was pointing to dried blood.
“We felt injustice at half-time, and we used it as fuel for the equaliser,” Ten Hag told reporters at full-time, as per BBC Sport.
“We didn’t know why the referee brought one of our players in a critical moment off the pitch. It was dry blood – it happened before.
“Then in a critical moment on a corner from them – which is their strength – they bring one of our best headers off and then Brentford take benefit from it. Of course then you are frustrated.”
Thomas Frank disagreed with Ten Hag after the match, stating that he felt the referee did a good job (of course he’d say that).
“I think it is good refereeing if I am honest. If Manchester United took the corner and we took out Nathan Collins because he was bleeding, they would want to take the corner…”
