BEES WHACKED
United must turn the clocks back to a time when they were not being so outplayed
BRITISH Summer Time is here, but Erik ten Hag remains stuck in the dark ages.
Nobody enjoys seeing a good man crucified at this time of year like that geezer from Nazareth, but on the dismal evidence of a burgled point by Kew Bridge, Ten Hag is a Red man walking.
Manchester United may have summoned the spirit to dump Liverpool out of the FA Cup, but that mirage in the desert is already a distant memory.
When they return to west London for the big underachievers ‘derby’ at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, if United present Ten
Hag with such barrel-scraping mediocrity, even Chelsea’s worst team this century might beat them.
Every meaningful stat screamed of players going through the motions and a manager in the twilight zone of his reign.
United faced 31 shots, 14 corners and fired-up Brentford had 85 touches inside their opponents’ box.
Can you imagine a Sir Alex Ferguson team allowing the peasants such a monopoly of chances?
Even when United adjusted their highwaymen’s masks and held up the stagecoach with Mason Mount’s first goal for the club, and his first for 15 months, in the 96th minute, they still managed to ride off into the night without the loot.
Ten Hag accused his players of lacking passion, and no arguments there – you would find more passion at a hen night in a convent than United’s strolling indifference.
But if his team cannot muster the basic enthusiasm to nail relegation candidates like the Bees, who were fabulous, it suggests they are not pulling for him.
And although Ten Hag pays lip service to reaching Champions League orbit again next season, he has more chance of jumping in the Thames without catching a nasty E-coli bug from all the raw sewage.
Scott Mctominay was the twogoal hero of United’s heist in the reverse fixture last October, but this time he was so anonymous he should have been reported to Scotland Yard’s missing persons bureau. Marcus Rashford looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, and it may have reached the stage where a fresh start away from Old Trafford would be best for all concerned.
Alejandro Garnacho ran up more dead ends than the Hampton Court maze, Bruno Fernandes was a field general who stayed in the officers’ mess and even rising star Kobbie Mainoo’s bright start faded into the drudgery around him.
Aaron Wan-bissaka looks like a right foot in a left shoe at leftback, and his dawdling played Ivan Toney onside to set up Kristoffer Ajer’s 99th-minute equaliser (celebrating, below).
Goalkeeper Andre Onana, who was blameless, admitted: “I just feel sad. We are Manchester United and we must win, but we gave it away at the end.
“It wasn’t our best game but we did a fantastic job defending and the way we conceded that goal was painful for all of us.
“We, as leaders, the experienced players, have to take responsibility because we are the biggest club in the country. We have to keep working hard, be humble, stick together like we did last month and aim for the top four.”
Biggest club in the country? Pull the other one and have a look at the league table, mate.
And top four? You’re having a laugh.
This is Ten Hag’s team, and they are bang average. His admission that Brentford “showed more passion, desire and determination” had the air of a letter of resignation.
“We have to show more. We scored the goal but then threw it off the line,” he said.
“Brentford were more focused and more aggressive and it should be the other way round. We were winning, we should compliment the team for that, but then we gave it away.”
The clocks may have gone forward, but United are stranded in 2013, still waiting for the next Fergie.
BRENTFORD (3-5-2): Flekken 7; Jorgensen 7, Ajer 7, Collins 7; Roerslev 7 (Maupay 87), Yarmoliuk 6 (Damsgaard 71), Jensen 8, Janelt 7, Lewis-potter 7
(Ghoddos 87); Toney 7, Wissa 7 (Mbeumo
71). Subs: Strakosha, Onyeka, Baptiste, Trevitt, Kim
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): Onana 7; Wan-bissaka 5, Lindelof 6 (Martinez 69, 5), Varane 6 (Maguire 46, 6), Dalot 7; Mctominay 4, Mainoo 6 (Casemiro 80); Garnacho 5 (Antony 59, 6), Fernandes 6, Rashford 5 (Mount 80); Hojlund 5. Subs: Heaton, Amrabat, Eriksen, Kambwala