The Red Devils grabbed a much needed win against a tough side in Brentford as Erik ten Hag returned to action with a BIG 3 points.

He and United were seriously under the pump after their worst-ever start to a Premier League season and while they may not be out of trouble yet, this victory will certainly ease the pressure.

Seen as a game that could potentially sack the Dutchman depending on how it went, we actually ended up seeing an MUFC team and performance that showed a lot of fight and passion, something that we haven't seen often enough.

This was perhaps a surprise to many but was absolutely necessary considering the poor start to the campaign.

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However, the game itself didn't start off on the right foot as it was Brentford who was on top. Luckily, United managed to keep them out in the first 2 minutes although on 2 minutes and 30 seconds, Brentford did have a chance where they probably should've scored.

Thankfully for the home side, they didn't as that could've changed the complexion of the game.

That early opportunity did set the tone for the next 20 minutes however, as it was Thomas Frank's side who were the dominant of the two.

Brentford never really peppered Onana but were still getting a lot more of the ball, keeping it well, playing through United and getting forward a lot which made us all think 'here we go again.'

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Around the 25th minute mark though, the home team started to wake up. United managed to see off Brentford's early dominance and began to get on the ball more and create opportunities of their own.

Garnacho down the left-wing was creator in chief as ten Hag's men looked for him as an outlet more often than not.

The Argentinian was always a threat but frustrated all due to his lack of a cutting edge and poor decision-making in the final third.

United created some good chances and started to force Mark Flekken into some saves at a point where we probably needed to score to properly assert our dominance.

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As ever with United though, something goes wrong.

Matthijs De Ligt had to be checked by the medical staff after a head injury which drew a lot of blood, ahead injury he suffered after trying to head a ball but got a knee instead. The free-kick went the other way 🤷.

Him having to come off for attention (not for the first time) meant that United were a man down defending a corner in the final minute of the half.

Thanks to some poor marking from Dalot, Ethan Pinnock scored a pretty simple header to give the Bees a 1-0 lead going into the break.

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Erik ten Hag and co were fuming because of having to defend that corner with 10 men. The Man Utd manager ended up getting booked for his actions.

That seemed to light a fire in United as they came out blazing in the second period.

What was needed was an early goal to get us back in the game.

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That is exactly what they got as Garnacho finally managed to put one in the net after a great cross by Rashford to the back post.

United then truly got at Brentford as we created several chances and didn't allow the Bees any chance of getting out.

All of this hard work eventually paid off as a wonderful flick from captain Bruno Fernandes played Hojlund in for a one-on-one. The Danish striker beautifully chipped the 'keeper to put United in a deserved lead.

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Erik ten Hag then got his side to game manage the situation from then on so as to see the game out.

The match ended 2-1 and United got their third victory of the season.

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The manager would've been very happy at the performance as it was one of fight and playing for the badge. The team stuck to his plan of how he set them up and executed it pretty well.

Not really allowing Brentford to create too many good opportunities would've pleased him too despite the poor concession from a corner.

Getting a couple of goals was also important as United failed to score in their last three games in the league. His team still created many good chances of their own and perhaps should've scored a couple more but the positives far out-weighed the negatives in this match.

An important win for all.

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Ratings

Onana - 6

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Dalot - 6.5

De Ligt - 7

Evans - 6.5

Martinez - 6.5

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Eriksen - 7

Casemiro - 6.5

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Rashford - 7.5 MOTM

Bruno - 6.5

Garnacho - 7

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Hojlund - 6.5

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Zirkzee - 5.5

Ugarte - 6

Lindelof - 6

Mazraoui - 6

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Erik ten Hag - 7

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Final Thoughts

No banter for everyone this weekend 🙌.

Really solid all-round performance from United. I was really happy with how we played. There wasn't much wrong that we did and there was a lot right.

Finally getting on the score sheet feels good and just to see the team fight and keep it simple was refreshing. These shouldn't be things that we praise them for as it should be a given but knowing our team, we need to praise them when we can even if it is for things that should come as standard.

I did predict a 2-1 win but in a game that was more flat than what we got. The win was super important but I felt that we needed to see a performance as well.

We got both.

Now it's about building from it and trying to play like this more regularly. That is the challenge.

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Background Image: Rasmus Hojlund gets Man Utd's winner against Brentford | Image credit: Getty Images via Eurosport