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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Charlie Wilson

Brentford manager Thomas Frank reveals the Manchester United weakness his side looked to exploit

Brentford manager Thomas Frank has admitted his side looked to exploit the lack of height in Manchester United's side on Saturday evening, with Lisandro Martinez a particular target.

Standing at 5ft 9in, many questioned whether Martinez would be too short to deal with Premier League strikers following his summer move from Ajax. Martinez was brought off at half-time after a disastrous 45 minutes saw United 4-0 down to Brentford.

After losing 2-1 to Brighton on the opening weekend of the season, United fans and manager Erik ten Hag were desperate for their side to bounce back with a solid performance at the very least, but things went from bad to worse in the capital.

ALSO READ: Manchester United fans react to Brentford loss

Martinez wasn't the only player who struggled against the Bees, with David de Gea making two costly errors to hand Brentford a two-goal lead. Ivan Toney had a field day against United's backline, and Frank has admitted that he always intended to use the lack of height in United's backline to his advantage.

When asked whether he was targeting Martinez, Frank told Sky Sports: "We knew we'd more likely either win it or the second ball around it. Of course we looked at what Brighton did well against them, and Brighton are also like us in the way they want to play.

"Normally Brighton always build from the goalkeeper, but they went long every single time so of course we looked at that. We knew we had that weapon so that's why we did it."

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