United Claw Their Way Back In Top 4 

Manchester United secured  a crucial 1-0 victory over Brentford as Erik Ten Hag’s side moved back into the top 4 of the table. 

United hosted Brentford at Old Trafford on Wednesday, April 5th, 2024, the hosts were looking to bounce back from a slew of disappointing results which they have suffered in the Premier League in recent weeks. 

United came into this Brentford fixture on the back of 2 defeats and 1 draw in their last 3 Premier League  games, the defeat to Newcastle in their last game meant that the Red Devils found themselves outside the top 4 places and therefore picking up 3 points against Brentford became all the more crucial for Erik Ten Hag’s men. 

United have spent the majority of this season inside the top 4 and losing out on Champions League qualification in the final stages of the season would be a big blow for them and the Rebuilding project which is underway at Manchester United under the leadership of Erik Ten Hag. 

Brentford have proved themselves to be a formidable opponent as they have a knack for picking up points against the big sides, United in particular were well acquainted with this fact as the Red Devils had suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat early on in the season in the second match-day in the away fixture against Brentford. 

Yesterday’s game was in complete contrast to the reverse fixture between these two sides as despite the narrow 1-0 scoreline United largely controlled the game.  

How The Teams Lined Up:  

The home team started with 10 of the 11 starting players who suffered defeat at Newcastle, the exception being Weghorst who was relegated to the bench in this game. 

United on paper lined up in a usual 4-2-3-1 formation which often changes when the team is in possession and out of possession, under Ten Hag United are adapting to play in a far more fluid style of football and positional interchanges are a key feature of this system.   

Jadon Sancho started on the left of the United’s attack which implied that Rashford was moved to the No. 9 position in the absence of  Weghorst in the starting line-up, while Antony retained his place on the right wing.      

United were without several of their key players for this game which included the likes of – Eriksen, Casemiro, Garnacho and Van de Beek.   

Brentford on the other hand has a very specific way of playing when they line up in a back 3 system with two wing-backs: they defend well in a compact shape and look to hit out on the counter by utilising the runners in the channels. 

Brentford lined up in a familiar 5-3-2 system where they look to break on the counter by utilising the hold-up play of Ivan Toney and the running ability of Mbeumo.         

How The Game Panned Out  

United was the dominant side for most of the game, especially in the first half where they completely controlled the tempo of the match and pinned Brentford back in their half for most of the first half. On paper United lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation but most of the time when the team was in the build-up phase they took up more of a fluid 3-2-5 formation.

United continuously looked to engage 5 players in attack, they had a front 4 of Sancho, Rashford, Sabitzer and Antony but it was the right-back Diogo Dalot who was giving a lot of headaches to the Brentford defence as he was making inverted runs and taking-up inside positions between the Brentford left centre-back and left wing-back to form a front 5 for United in the attack.

Bruno Fernandes was another player who was occupying different positions as opposed  to his typical number 10 position, Fernandes started the game as a No. 8 but a lot of times during the build-up phase he was dropping deep, even deeper than the No. 6 McTominay,  McTominay on the other hand in such situations was given the freedom to make forward runs as he is a powerful runner and possesses ball carrying traits. 

Having Fernandes deeper allowed United to build up more effectively and move the ball around with  greater guile, as Fernandes is far better on the ball as compared to McTominay and McTominay does tend to struggle when he is given the build-up responsibilities and that was clearly visible in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s last season.     

United’s pressure and persistence in the first-half did pay off with a Marcus Rashford opener in the 27th minute which also turned out to be the winning goal as the in-form United talisman netted his 28th goal of the season. 

In the second-half, United did look to finish off the game by scoring the second goal, however, they were unable to find the back of the Brentford net in the second-half.     

Eventually, Brentford did grow into the game but they failed to create clear-cut chances apart from one opportunity that came the way of Kevin Schade which was bravely met by the United Goalkeeper.          

United have clawed their way back into the top 4 and sit in the 4th place 3 points above Tottenham and with a game in hand. They still have to play Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a game that would be crucial for their top 4 ambitions.    

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