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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?
47 min Carrick mustn’t be happy with United’s defending, and rightly so – they’ve been very open, and seem to have gone to a back five, Mbeumo now up front alongside Sesko.
46 min Change for United: Mazraoui for Amad.
46 min We go again…
Half-time email: “Jonathan Wilson made the point this weekend in the Guardian that Premier League teams have a safety first approach that compares unfavourably to the devil-may-care attacking of the best sides in Europe, PSG and Bayern,” says Kári Tulinius. “The Red Devils seem to have taken that to heart. I’m a neutral, but United’s defending has me on the verge of stress sweating, and yet they lead two goals to nil.”
The generally defend the box fairly well, but their rest defence needs a lot of work. A new midfielder will presumably make a difference, not just in putting out fires but in keeping the ball down the other end, but I’d also say they need two new full-backs.
Half-time reading:
HALF-TIME: Manchester United 2-0 Brentford
A really entertaining first half which could’ve seen five or six goals. But United’s superior quality has made the difference, two good finishes and a couple of fine saves helping them to a two-goal lead
45+1 min We talked earlier about Amad’s ability to recover the ball – he’s extremely tenacious for a little lad, and his timing is excellent. As we said, his numbers must improve, but the balance of Carrick’s side is better with him in it.
45 min We’ll have two additional minutes and Brentford again move forward, a pass into the middle meeting the run of Jensen who swats fractionally wide of the left-hand post from the edge of the box, dead centre.
45 min Bruno Fernandes, though. We shouldn’t forget he played half of the season in deep midfield, and all of it without a prolific striker to finish his creations. His vision and execution aren’t far off genius level.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Brentford (Sesko 43)
United come again, Amad winning a terrific challenge on the edge and finding Bruno, who moves through midfield, leading a three v two with Mbeumo to his right and Sesko left. He waits and waits, picks Sesko, delivers the pass, and the delayed, emphatic finish first gulls Van den Berg into sliding off towards the Megastore, then is swept high inside the near post with the keeper expecting the shot to go far. That’s 19 league assists for Bruno, the record of 20 surely soon to go.
41 min For the first time in a while, United move it forward, Mbeumo finding bruno, who slides in to Amad, who finishes off the base of the far post … but the flag goes up and he’s miles offside. Why did he go so early, especially given the ability of the man seeking to find him.
41 min Van den Berg pulls Sesko back and is booked.
40 min The ball did indeed hit Heaven’s arm, but it was in a natural position and not deliberate; United get the corner away, eventually.
39 min Here come Brentford again, Damasgaard pulling left to curve in another delicious pass. It goes over Maguire and Thiago is in between Heaven and Dalot, perhaps getting as hip to it as Heaven deflects with his arm; again, Lammens plunges, throwing up a strong arm to prang the ball behind.
37 min Damsgaard caresses a gorgeous pass over the top and again, Thaigo is in behind Heaven! he takes a touch but, as he shapes to shoot, a telescopic left foot comes from arounds his body, effectively shooting for him, and Lammens saves from his own man. That’s very good recovery-defending, but Thiago didn’t protect the ball well enough.
35 min Outtara marches between Amad and Shaw, then threads a fine pass through the middle for Thaigo and he’s in! But rather than hit it first time, he takes a touch, slips, and Heaven bumps it back to Lammens, just about. Brentford are knocking at the door.
34 min Brentford move it nicely as they look for holes in United’s defence, then Mainoo crunches in on Kayode and the home side clear.
31 min And here he is now, doing just that to touch off for Bruno who, on the edge, flights a lovely cross over Kayode’s head and again, Amad is in space! But this time, he heads straight at Kelleher … then the flag goes up.
30 min I’m not sure Sesko has had a kick yet. He’s not had great service, but given the players outside him, he can come to the ball and lay it off as the runners motor.
29 min Amad wins the first header but the ball comes back, and Mainoo does well to hook clear.
27 min Damsgaard is pulling the strings for Brentford, controlling their attacks, and when he slides a pass in behind, Lewis-Potter barges through one tackle, then wins a corner off Dalot.
26 min Mainoo finds himself on the left wing and again, looks to attack his man, but Kayode is a terrific one-on-one defender and does enough to win the ball.
24 min Damsgaard spreads left then, when the ball goes right, Outtara’s cross is blocked.
23 min Since that early run, Mainoo has been quiet, and that’s been his problem so far – he must get better at finding the ball and passing it incisively. Chelsea felt like a step forward, but only if he maintains the level
22 min “There’s an unbelievable amount of space in this game,” reckons Tim Stappard, and I agree. Both sides are good at finding it and United are also excellent at leaving it – a situation I imagine they hope to address in the summer by signing midfielders
20 min When United opted to start the season with Andre Onana in net, it was mind-boggling enough, but seeing how solid Lammens is, it makes even less sense. He saves almost everything he should, which alone makes him a massive upgrade, and also plenty he shouldn’t. There’s work to do with his passing and foot-movement, especially when facing long shots, but he’s been a monumental upgrade, and having him there has made a huge difference to United’s defenders.
18 min The resultant corner comes to nothing, but this is a really entertaining and open game.
17 min oh, he does get a touch because it’s a corner and gain, Brentford pick a pass in behind United, Damsgaard sliding in for Kayode as the defence steps up. He looks to send an outswinging finish towards the far side-netting, but Lammens spreads himself well to make the save.
16 min But then United give it away and Outtara seizes upon the loose ball, slipping a fine reverse-pass in behind for Lewis-Potter, who delivers a perfect low cross into the corridor. Thiago is there, but Shaw slides in and must put him off, because he doesn’t get a touch but the striker can’t land a boot on it.
15 min Brentford come forward and win a corner, the ref taking a moment as the players jostle around Senne Lammens, then the ball comes in and Casemiro, equally adept in his own box, heads clear.
