Key events
89 min We said earlier on that Lammens’ principal weakness is in dealing with long shots and, though he saw that one late, he didn’t move until it was almost past him.
WHAT A GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Brentford (Jensen 88)
Livener! Nelson feeds it across to Jensen who, 20 yards out and just right of centre, unleashes a venomous outswinger that shrieks and hisses in off the far post, two-thirds of the way up, Lammens slow to react. Eyes down for a tense final few!
86 min Brentford win a corner and United clear the first ball…
86 min “Just a couple bits about your All-Time Man Utd PL team,” writes Will Harris-Brown. “Jaap Stam was a top defender for a bit, but the mythos has made him this world conquerer despite not much to back it up. Vidic won two player of the year awards, hes was the only defender to do it even once (before Ruben Dias somehow won it over Harry Kane that year) and is undoubtedly the better of the baldy hard men duo.
Secondly, and this is more of a tactical objection, with Irwin as your right back, you have left-footers at both full back positions and no width in midfield. With Giggs and Ronado as your wingers, was your plan just to completely overload the left side of the pitch and forget about the other?”
Irwin was two-footed – he only moved to the left when Parker was signed – while Stam was quicker than Vidic and better on the ball, though not as good at stopping attacks before they started.
85 min Fernandes down the line for Dalot, whose low cross isn’t bad, but Collins is there to intercept with Sesko lurking.
83 min Joshua Zirkzee gets ready to come on, and I wonder if, assuming as now seems likely, United play in the Champions League next season, we see more of him next season. I’m not sure he’s athletic enough for the Prem, but he has a lovely touch and feel so, with the right players around him, he can offer a different option … if he decides to be more ruthless when offered shooting opportunities. An extra pass might look nice, but looking nice isn’t his job.
81 min Another throw to Brentford, again Kayode flings in, and again United defend it well enough. Then, when the ball comes back via cross to the back post, Mazraoui does really well to win a header under pressure.
79 min “I think your instinct’s right with Mo for Suarez and Becks for Bruno,” says Steve Hoare. “Then I think I’d prefer David Silva or Fabregas ahead of Yaya. But that’s just a personal style thing. Ooh – or Modric?”
I don’t think Modric was as good as the best in the time he was in the Prem, but of course is one of the best to play in it. I guess I went for athleticism and power, with feet and brain, rather than pure feet and brain, but I see both sides.
77 min Lovely from United, pinging short, hard passes about the edge of the box, Mainoo, Bruno and Mount involved, before the ball goes back to Casemiro and from 22 yards, he laces a shot that fizzes a yard past the post. Fernandes wants a corner, either for a deflection, which there might’ve been, or for the save, which there wasn’t; he and Thiago exchange sentiments, then on goes the game.
76 min Heaven carries the ball forward and a frustrated Thiago clips him; he’s booked.
75 min Mbeumo, by the way, hasn’t scored since the first week in February. He was impressive before Afcon, though, when United were really struggling.
74 min And two more changes for United, Yoro and Mount on for Shaw and Mbeumo.
73 min Change for Brentford, Reiss nelson replacing Schade.
71 min Oh goodness, Casemiro makes first contact at the near post, flicking on and finding the unmarked Outtara at the near post. But clearly unused to such position, he bows into a downwards header which hits the near post, Maguire putting his head among the boots to win a free-kick. That should’ve been a livener, but increasingly this doesn’t look like Brentford’s night.
70 min But Brentford maintain pressure and win a corner down the left…
69 min Maguire misjudges a channel-ball, taking a touch when iut needed to go back to Lammens or into touch. So Thiago robs him, knocks inside for Outtara, and Heaven does well to block – a really good aspect of his defensive skillset.
68 min Daamsgaard’s played well tonight and he flicks adroitly out to Yarmolyuk, but Casemiro snaps into the tackle and United are doing a decent job of killing this contest.
66 min Before tonight, United needed five points to be certain of qualifying for the Champions League. If they hang on to this result, surely even they couldn’t contrive to make a mess needing two from four.
64 min “I’d have Yaya Toure om midfield instead of Kolo Toure and Mark Draper in instead of De Bruyne,” says Joe Mellin, but other than that I think you’re all set.”
Gah, I thought I’d got away with that errant “K”. If i’d picked the team on the opening day of 95-96, Draper would’ve been a certainty.
63 min Lewis-Potter loses Dalot, then my screen crashes, so I’m not sure what exactly happened, but United get the ball away.
61 min I doubt United play like this much next season, but for now, they’re restricting Brentford’s space much better than before without looking less likely to fashion scoring opportunities. It’s also worth noting that Carrick has been criticised for acting too late in games – he let things drift against Leeds, for example – so he must be learning from the Twitter experts.
60 min The ball comes straight back again though, a ball over the top bundles into the path of Outtara, who lashes wide of the near post… then the flag goes up.
59 min Brentford win a throw deep inside the United half, Kayode to hurl long, but Shaw makes first contact at the near post and eventually Mazraoui gets rid.
58 min Back to those teams, I’d of course happily sub in Beckham for Giggs or Bruno, similarly Salah for Bale or Suarez, those are just the players I’d least want to face if I was the United manager.
57 min A brilliant ball curled into the box and Thiago is there … but completely misses his connection. The flag goes up, but he’s not finishing well today.
54 min “Love Sesko,” says Joshua Keeling. “He is going to be some player. As for Fernandes, what more can you say? 19 assists now. One of the great individual Premier League seasons. One of the greatest players in United’s history. The only player signed post-Ferguson who would have got in some of his greatest teams?”
I was picking my PL-era United team the other day, to play against my All-comers XI, and for the first time, he got in. Now that you (don’t) ask, and please no one be insulted, it was late and I could change them at any time, they were:
United: Schmeichel; Irwin, Ferdinand, Stam, Evra; Keane, Scholes, Bruno; Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs.
All-comers: Cech; Walker, Van Dijk, Terry, Cole; Vieira, De Bruyne, Touré Y; Bale, Suárez, Henry.
52 min United win another corner, again it picks out Maguire, and this time his header back across os blocked. Brentford haven’t got going so far this half.
51 min “The Apres Match clip and talk of Eamon Dunphy reminds me of the peak years of Champions League on RTE in Ireland in the mid to late noughties,” says John. “You would watch a dull group phase game but you would be treated to Dunphy, John Giles and Liam Brady arguing or complaining about the game. They were wrong half the time (‘this fella Ronaldo is a cod’) but they were entertaining. You then had Apres Match come on to parody the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
I can imagine if Brady, Giles and Dunphy were still on TV, they would not fancy Bruno at all,but his production for United is amazing without even considering how much of a mess the whole place has been since he joined the club.”
I was lucky enough to interview Dunphy when making Busby, and he was terrific. I asked him if had the tapes from the interviews he did for Strangre Kind of Glory … and he chucked them. Horrendous, but so in character.
50 min Er, not really. Mbeumo sewings to the back post, Maguire heads firmly but from a narrow angle, and Kelleher blocks.
49 min Actually, it looks like a 5-2-2-1, with Mbeumo and Bruno behind Sesko. Meantime, United win a corner; will anyone bother marking Maguire and Casemiro?
