Manchester United

Brentford ruthlessly pulled their opponents apart and scored all of their goals during a dominant 25-minute spell in the first-half...

“That was the game plan — kicking it long to utilise (Toney’s) strengths in the air and it paid off,” Raya said afterwards. Eriksen was enticed to join Man Utd by the prospect of playing in European competition and better wages, yet even after just two games surely doubts have crept into his mind about his decision. We were on it and did what the game demanded, which was to work harder than them and hit them on the counter. The ball would then be directed towards the back post for Toney to head across the box, with this routine leading to Mee’s goal (who towered over Martinez). To be fair, he was very aggressive on the floor. Ten Hag replaced Martinez at half-time and brought on Raphael Varane, but the damage had already been done. In the first half, Toney made a crucial interception in his own box and was pushed over by Cristiano Ronaldo as a reward. “To stay in the game, be a nuisance and be hard to play against. “We knew (Man United) would be unsure from last weekend (after losing 2-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion) and maybe lack confidence,” Ben Mee told The Athletic at full-time. “That is what the manager has instilled in us,” midfielder Josh Dasilva said. However, Frank’s side ruthlessly pulled their opponents apart and scored all of their goals during a dominant 25-minute spell in the first half. Exactly one year after their historic victory over Arsenal on the opening day of the 2021-22 season, Brentford eclipsed that impressive performance by beating Manchester United 4-0, and for the first time since 1938.

Saturday's 4–0 loss to Brentford exposed the Red Devils for what they are: a club without a plan run by a manager with misplaced tactics.

He was presumably brought in to try to impose an Ajax-style system at United. But Ajax presses and he has a forward line that doesn’t press. Is ten Hag the man to enact that? But ten Hag is two games into his reign, and he’s the first United manager to lose his first two games since John Chapman in 1921. Brentford registered three times as many pressures in the final third as United in Saturday. That is true in terms of infrastructure and backroom staff. Docherty’s first full season ended in relegation, but he was kept on and allowed to continue his rebuild, finishing third in 1976 and then lifting the FA Cup in 1977 before being sacked over his affair with the physio’s wife.

Manchester United has started the Premier League season with back-to-back defeats. (CNN) Manager Erik ten Hag said Manchester United's game plan ...

But it's no good, it's quite clear at this level." "It's naïve how we played today. "Brentford was more hungry, one, and two, we conceded goals (from) individual mistakes," ten Hag told reporters after the match.

The 2022-23 season is off to the worst possible start for Manchester United. Despite the arrival of new manager Erik ten Hag, the Red Devils have failed to ...

The answer is 1974 when they finished the 1973-74 season in second-last with 20 league losses to their name. John Chapman was the last to start with such a run of defeats with the Red Devils subsequently relegated from the top-flight in his first season. For the club with the most Premier League titles in history, last is not a place the club will want to stay for long.

Manchester United hit a new low after a pathetic performance against an outstanding Brentford side, signaling the amount of work that Ten Hag faces.

The headlines will be about United but Frank and his team deserve credit for a well-executed game plan which humiliated Ten Hag and his players. They only needed 30% possession to do it and converted four of their seven shots on target in a clinical display that brutally exposed the fragility of a United team that seems bereft of technical ability and self belief. Ten Hag wants his team to play out from the goalkeeper and De Gea's passing was shaky in the defeat to Brighton. After two games, two defeats, and a goal difference of minus five, United are bottom of the Premier League table and it won't get any easier for Ten Hag. His next game is against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Aug. 22. Of course after the first mistake and the second it was very tough for the team to get playing. It's also four league defeats in a row -- stretching back to last season -- for the first time since 1979. United are looking to add another goalkeeper before the transfer deadline and those efforts will intensify after De Gea's latest disaster. It was a poor performance from myself. Brentford played well, and United's defensive errors, coupled with a lack of attacking conviction, gave the Bees their first win over the Red Devils in the Premier League. Ten Hag, appointed in the summer from Ajax, is the first United manager to lose his first two competitive games since John Chapman in 1921 while United have now lost their last seven away matches -- their worst run since 1936. If the new Manchester United manager thought it was bad against Brighton last weekend, this was even worse. Brentford were 4-0 up with barely half an hour on the clock and then spent the rest of the game toying with Ten Hag's team.

To say that Ten Hag isn't a match for this squad is both true and pointless: nobody is, nobody could be. Can you play Lisandro Martínez, a 5ft 9in centre-back, ...

Half a century ago, United responded to the defeat at Selhurst Park by sacking Frank O’Farrell and George Best. Moving on Ronaldo might be a start, but Ten Hag is even less an author of the chaos than O’Farrell was. This is a major problem for United: De Gea is one of the few United players who has performed consistently in recent years and yet those struggles with the ball at his feet make it very hard for them to switch to a modern style. Perhaps Ten Hag has raised the issue, but the mind boggles at who this United board might come up with as a replacement after thumbing through their ageing directory of high-maintenance bad boys. By comparison, Ederson completed 88.1% and Alisson 87.1%; while it’s true that’s partly because De Gea was encouraged to play more longer balls, it’s also true that one of the reasons United played more longer balls is De Gea. Can you play out from the back with De Gea? De Gea remains, despite Saturday’s howler, an excellent shot-stopper, which is why last season he was named United’s player of the year for the fourth time. Ole Gunnar Solskjær, though, was good at setting up his team to sit deep and play on the break – at least until Cristiano Ronaldo was signed, depriving the forward line of pace and mobility and so destroying the one viable approach United had, and undermining dressing-room morale while he was at it.

The manager punished his team following the 4-0 defeat to Brentford, and said: 'We conceded goals from individual mistakes'

I asked them to play with belief and take responsibility for their performance, and that’s what they didn’t do.” We conceded goals from individual mistakes,” Ten Hag said after the game. He also felt his tactics were not implemented during the game.

The Dutchman has hauled his Manchester United flops into Carrington for extra training as they analyse how things went so wrong against Thomas Frank's side ...

Ten Hag, who is the first Manchester United manager since 1921 to lose his first two league matches, was scored a two. The team has to take the responsibility. But that hasn't stopped the ex-Ajax manager ripping up any plans for relaxation after their disastrous Saturday afternoon in London. I feel really sorry for the fans. Erik ten Hag's nightmare start to life as manager continued as his side trailed by four goals at half-time - only the third time that has happened to United in the Premier League. Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has cancelled his player's planned day off following Saturday's 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Brentford

Josh Dasilva (10') · Mathias Jensen (18') · Ben Mee (30') · Bryan Mbeumo (35').

Former Ajax boss Ten Hag becomes the first United manager in over 100 years to lose his first two matches. Ten Hag's side managed to stop the flow of conceded goals in the second half, but failed to convert their chances which would have restored some pride. "It was a horrible day," De Gea said.

Manchester United came in for heavy criticism from former players after they crashed to a chastening 4-0 defeat by Brentford in the Premier League on ...

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EXCLUSIVE: Sportsmail reported how a furious Ten Hag made his team cover the exact distance which Brentford outran United by when the Bees defeated United ...

The team has to take the responsibility. How are we allowing ourselves to be put in a position like that? 'Playing in a high level football match adds significantly to that bucket and adding another day of running on the day after - there’s a reason it was a scheduled rest day - can lead to that overflow and potential injury risk. How are we putting ourselves in that position? And he's looking around and saying "not for me." They wouldn't be doing that!' United faces fierce rival Liverpool next on Monday, August 22 at Old Trafford and Jurgen Klopp's side beat United 5-0 there last season. 'He's probably sitting there thinking "I've been sold a dummy here. I feel really sorry for the fans. 'Activity adds water to the bucket whereas rest & recovery removes it. The 'red zone' is essentially that state of high fatigue & raised injury risk. He's coming expected new signings.

Erik ten Hag cancelled a scheduled day off for his Manchester United squad and held an extra training session after their humiliation at the hands of ...

That is what we didn't do." The team has to take responsibility. We need higher standards than that, that's clear," the 52-year-old told beIN Sports after the game.

Bruno Fernades of Manchester United looks dejected during the Premier League match between Brentford FC and. Shaun Botterill/Getty Images. By now, everyone ...

And when the Frenkie de Jongs of the world tell you that nothingness beats Manchester United, they tell you that the problem isn’t with the Frenkie de Jongs. It turns out that Frenkie de Jong is not a stubborn Dutchman—he is a visionary. Most folks are frankly effervescent at the very notion of Manchester United being a continued embarrassment to the concept of Manchester United, and giving up a four-spot in 35 minutes to a team that hasn’t beaten them since 1938 makes it all the more delectable.

The team has no direction, no cohesion, and no victories this season.

And yet still, there has to be something more, something inexplicable or unquantifiable that makes a team look like that yesterday. Or that Maguire is happy to be the biggest figure of fun in the league week after week simply because he cost $89 million once. But for all of this to happen at the same time, this perfect confluence of so many players dealing with form and maybe even career-killing issues suggests that yes, something is truly broken about the whole club. And then in the first two games, when players should be trying to prove why they should be part of a revolution, watching them toss all those plans right out the window and into the septic tank as soon as the whistle blows. Marcus Rashford has been strip-mined of all confidence and it’s not even a sure thing that he can get the correct shoe onto the correct foot. The 4-0 loss to Brighton last season was only in May. The combined 9-0 to Liverpool in two games last year (which they will show me replays of whenever it is I become grievously ill or injured to ensure total recovery). A 2-0 loss to City at home when City refused to step on the gas after the 35th minute or so.

A punishing running session, concerns over signings and Ten Hag is becoming more open to Ronaldo leaving the club after Brentford humbling.

Guardiola’s Manchester City team are top of the league, having scored six goals and conceded none to begin their bid to win a third straight Premier League title and fifth in six years under him. United conceded four goals in the space of 25 minutes on Saturday and have now lost seven consecutive Premier League away matches stretching back to last season — their worst run since the 1930s. Eriksen was pounced upon by the Brentford press ahead of their second goal, and central defender Ben Mee said they targeted United’s attempts to play out from the back. Ten Hag said he would have had cause to substitute any of his 11 starting players had the option been available. Sometimes he gets beat in the air but he was aggressive on the floor. Raya said: “That was the game plan today — kicking it long, to utilise Ivan’s strengths in the air. Ten Hag, meanwhile, initially wanted United to dig in and keep one of the game’s greatest ever players on their books. Rashford’s contract at Old Trafford runs out at the end of this season, although United have an option to extend it a further year. United have been linked with Espanyol’s Raul de Tomas, who has scored 45 goals in 89 appearances for the Barcelona club. Ten Hag also made his feelings clear to his players during several meetings at Carrington following the running session. We enforce the message that we need to do it. It was not until the following day that Ten Hag settled on club captain Harry Maguire, rather than 2018 World Cup winner Raphael Varane, as the partner for Lisandro Martinez, another newcomer.