Jonathan Wilson’s match report has landed. And like all the best match reports, the opening sentence includes the word ‘dismal’.
That’s all from me – thanks for your company, goodnight.
Honours – and emotions – are even at the Gtech Community Stadium. Both teams will be annoyed they didn’t win; both will be relieved they didn’t lose. Brentford battered Man Utd throughout and hit the woodwork four times, but they were facing a miserable defeat when the substitute Mason Mount scored a classy goal, his first for United, in the 96th minute.
Kristoffer Ajer ensured Brentford got at least one point, equalising in the 99th minute after superb play from the relentless Ivan Toney. It moves them five points clear of the relegation places, and the performance will give them huge encouragement for the last eight games. I’ll be pretty surprised if they don’t stay up.
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Full time: Brentford 1-1 Man Utd
Peep peep!
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90+14 min They’re still playing…
90+12 min Both McTominay and Maupay are booked.
90+12 min Martinez is penalised for pulling somebody back, and now McTominay and Maupay are having a row.
90+11 min Fernandes’s corner is missed by Maguire and goes behind off Toney for another…
90+11 min Mount wins a corner for Man Utd. With the two goals we probably still have 60-90 seconds remaining.
There might be time for either team to win this. A high, hanging ball in behind the defence was beautifully controlled by Toney on the right side of the area. He shuffled away from Casemiro and Martinez near the byline and dragged the ball back to Ajer, who slammed the ball past Onana from 10 yards.
That’s outstanding play from Ivan Toney, both subtle and defiant.
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GOAL! Brentford 1-1 Man Utd (Ajer 90+9)
Justice is done, sort of.
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Oh man, that is beyond brutal. For the second time this season, Man Utd may have scored an injury-time winner against Brentford. There was a bit of a scramble 20 yards from goal before Casemiro played a short angled pass to his left to find Mount. His first touch was outstanding, taking Zanka out of the game, and his second was an emphatic finish across Flekken with his left foot. It’s a quietly brilliant goal actually, and an utter scandal.
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GOAL! Brentford 0-1 Man Utd (Mount 90+6)
Mason Mount has scored his first goal for Man Utd!
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90+6 min United are actually having a decent spell. It will be brutal if they nick this.
90+5 min “Are there no concussion protocols anymore?!?” says Rachel Clifton.
I’m pretty sure Dalot passed a concussion test. Whether that test is fit for purpose, I have no idea, but I’d be very surprised if there was any negligence from the physios.
90+4 min A rare bit of pressure from Man Utd, with Fernandes’s cross almost falling for a couple of players in front of goal.
90+3 min “Is the best a goalkeeper can hope for that people aren’t really talking about them?” wonders David Wall. “For all the noise about how terrible he was at the start of the season (and he did make a number of howlers, mainly in the Champions League strangely), no one seems to have talked about how important Onana has become for United. He’s consistently making excellent saves to keep them in matches.
“I thought some of the criticism was well over the top (and I wonder if there was a bit of unconscious racism in there too, after all no one called De Gea a ‘clown’ when he was making mistakes just as bad last year) so I’m pleased for him. Now if they get at least another centre-half in the summer who can play (alongside Martinez), perhaps they might see more of the creative, ball-playing stuff from him that he was really bought for.”
90+2 min Dalot has had his head bandaged, and we’re about to begin nine minutes of added time. (In other words there should be 11 overall.)
90 min Dalot, one of the few United players who hasn’t had a stinker, is down after an accidental clash of heads with Neal Maupay.
89 min “Why am I watching this at 3.07 am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning?” asks Pramith Pillai. “Why are we like this? Why oh why oh why…”
88 min Man Utd have had more of the ball, 55 per cent, but some of the other stats tell a fairer story of the game. Brentford have had 29 shots to nine and 73 touches in the opposition box to United’s 11.
87 min: Double substitution for Brentford Neal Maupay and Saman Ghoddos replace Mads Roerslev and the bright Keane Lewis-Potter.
86 min Toney thrashes the free-kick wide of the near post.
85 min Casemiro fouls Mbeumo just outside the area, to the right of centre. Toney scored from a not dissimilar on his return against Nottingham Forest.
84 min An awful pass from Martinez hits Toney and bounces into the space behind Maguire. For a second it looks like Toney is through on goal, but then he runs out of steam and plays a tired pass towards that is cut out.
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83 min Zanka is booked for a late tackle on Mount.
83 min Mbeumo’s outswinging corner is volleyed over by Toney, who slaps the ground in frustration. He got the run on Martinez, just as he did Rashford for that header in the first half. Brentford have wanted it far more.
82 min Lewis-Potter’s inswinging cross is fumbled by Onana, who saw it later, and cleared desperately by Wan-Bissaka. I have no idea how Brentford aren’t ahead in this game.
81 min Bruno Fernandes, who has at least looked interested, shoots straight at Flekken from 25 yards.
80 min: Double substitution for Man Utd Casemiro and Mason Mount replace Kobbie Mainoo, who had a poor game by his standards, and the sadly anonymous Marcus Rashford.
78 min: Mbeumo hits the bar! It is 4-0 to Brentford, because that’s how many times they’ve hit the woodwork tonight. Flekken’s free-kick from the halfway line was allowed to bounce by the United defence, and Mbeumo ran on to batter a shot against the crossbar from 15 yards.
78 min “My apologies to Brentford, not Bradford, who are obviously not just a bus stop in Yorkshire!” says Justin Kavanagh. “Obviously, watching Manchester United this season has drained the life (and all sense of geography) out of me!”
77 min Lewis-Potter’s fierce shot from the edge of the area is held by Onana.
76 min If it stays like this Brentford will be five points clear of the bottom three – a decent cushion, but on the balance of play it will really should be seven points.
No goal! Yep, Toney was just offside. It was a lovely finish though – he was hopelessly off balance after a challenge from Wan-Bissaka but improvised superbly to force a volley past Onana.
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72 min: Toney has a goal disallowed! It was a terrific volley, willed past Onana at the near post from Mbeumo’s deep cross, but he was fractionally offside. It will be checked by VAR.
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72 min Antony, who scored a very unusual equaliser against Liverpool with his right foot, almost scores a trademark goal here with a no-backlift curler from 25 yards that flashes just past the far post. Flekken might have had it covered in fairness.
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71 min: Double substitution for Brentford Bryan Mbeumo and Mikkel Damsgaard replace Yehor Yarmoliuk and Yoane Wissa.
70 min Two more corners in quick succession for Brentford. The second is driven deep and knocked back across towards Lewis-Potter, whose overhead kick goes over the bar. Decent effort.
69 min: Man Utd substitution Lisandro Martinez hurriedly gets ready and comes on to replace Victor Lindelof.
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67 min Now Victor Lindelof has done his hamstring. For all their faults, Man Utd’s injury list this season has been grotesque.
66 min McTominay, who broke Brentford with two injury-time goals in the return fixture, shoots high and wide from 25 yards.
65 min: Just over from Toney! That would have been a stunning goal. Jensen, in the centre circle, clipped a flat, angled pass over the United defence towards Toney on the edge of the area. He hit a surprise volley on the run that went over Onana and just cleared the crossbar.
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64 min More Brentford pressure until McTominay makes a decent tackle just outside the area. The second half has been almost as one-sided as the first.
61 min Lewis-Potter heads over at the far post. He couldn’t quite get over the top of a cross from the right. It came from another Brentford break and included another excellent touch from Wissa, who has been outstanding.
60 min “Zanka hits the bar! takes on a totally different meaning in Shane O’Leary’s Czech Vampire scenario,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “But either way, you can sense a bloodbath approaching for the all-but-defenceless visitors. In fact, I’ll stick my neck out here and predict at least 2 or 3 for Bradford in this second half.”
Bradford, you say? How’s that neck of yours?
59 min: Man Utd substitution Antony comes on for Alejandro Garnacho.
58 min: Wissa hits the post! A mishit cross from the right is headed towards the edge of the area. Wissa backpedals around the ball and hooks a thrilling volley that brushes the outside of the post.
That’s the third time Brentford have hit the woodwork tonight.
57 min Jensen’s long throw leads to a scramble in the United area, with Dalot blocking shots from both Yarmoliuk and Ajer.
Man Utd’s defending tonight has been desperate at best.
55 min: Double save from Onana! Toney’s cross from the right is shanked to Yarmoliuk on the edge of the area. His low shot is clawed away by the stretching Onana, who gets to his feet to block Lewis-Potter’s close-range follow-up.
54 min: Great save by Flekken! Dalot curls a superb long pass down the right to release Fernandes. He cuts inside and squares to Hojlund, whose first-time shot on the stretch brings an outstanding reaction stop from Flekken. I think he saved it with his bicep in the end.
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54 min Brentford break two on two, with Wissa on the ball. He uses Toney by not using him but then goes slightly too wide and drags a tame shot wide of the far post.
52 min After a decent spell of United possession, Dalot lifts a fine shot from 25 yards that swerves just wide of the far post. Really good effort.
50 min The second half has started as the first finished, with Brentford on top. Fernandes tries to change the mood/scoreline/narrative/anything with a long-range blooter that is held to his left by Flekken.
49 min And cleared by VAR. It looked just outside the area, though I think the VAR team decided it wasn’t a foul anyway.
48 min Jensen’s corner is headed away to the edge of the area, where Janelt goes over after a clumsy challenge from Garnacho. This will be checked by VAR.
47 min Jensen wins Brentford’s first corner of the half and tenth of the match. The 11th soon follows…
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46 min Brentford begin the second half. Man Utd have brought on Harry Maguire for the (presumably) injured Raphael Varane.
Half time: Brentford 0-0 Man Utd
It’s a slight stretch to say Brentford could be 4-0 up, as they were at half-time last season, but they’ve been much the better team and should certainly be ahead. Ivan Toney hit the post, Zanka hit the bar and Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof had to get their knees dirty on a number of occasions.
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45 min Wissa is booked for a foul on Fernandes.
44 min Yet another Brentford corner is cleared to the edge of the area. Yarmoliukm’s snapshot is blocked by Varane, but once again United can’t get out. Eventually Lewis-Potter’s flicked header is comfortably saved to his right by Onana.
Man Utd have been wretched.
43 min “Zanka is the kind of cool name that belongs to the bad guy running a tech-heavy nightclub for vampires in Prague,” says Shane O’Leary.
Arf, very good. I think his given name is Mathias Jorgensen.
42 min Rashford’s long-range shot takes a deflection and spins through to Flekken. I think that counts as the first shot on target at either end.
41 min The impact of that block tackle hurt Varane, who gets a low-five from Toney when he eventually gets to his feet. Toney and Wissa have given him a very good workout.
40 min The resulting free-kick, on the halfway line, is driven into the United area by the keeper Flekken. Zanka heads the ball down and Toney’s half-volley on the turn is blocked crucially by Varane.
40 min Wan-Bissaka is booked for a foul on Roerslev.
38 min Now Wissa’s acrobatic volley goes wide after a short-range cross from Roerslev. It was an awkward chance, but it’s another shot at goal – Brentford’s 11th of the half. Yet none of them have been on target.
36 min Rashford blasts a shot wide after the whistle has gone for offside. Brentford enquire about a yellow card but Simon Hooper is satisfied Rashford didn’t hear the whistle.
Moments later, Yarmoliuk shoots wide from 20 yards.
34 min: Chance for Toney! Mainoo is well challenged on the edge of the Brentford area, allowing Janelt to launch an early ball into the space for Toney. He runs down the inside-right channel, then cuts inside Lindelof in the area and spanks a left-foot shot over the bar. I think Wissa was in a decent position but Toney only had eyes for the net.
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32 min: Zanka hits the bar! Jensen takes the corner short on the right, gets it back and curls another delicious cross into the middle. This time it goes beyond the far post to the unmarked Zanka, whose header back across goal hits the top of the bar. It was a pretty tricky chance.
Brentford have been much the better team, particularly in the last 15 minutes.
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31 min Keane Lewis-Potter is having a field day down the left. He cuts inside and coaxes another inviting cross that brushes the head of Varane and goes behind for a corner. Toney was waiting behind him.
30 min Man Utd are having another of their sleepy first halves away from home. Don’t ask me to explain it; I haven’t a clue.
27 min Toney walks away from Mainoo, who sells himself with unusual immaturity, and angles a through pass towards Yarmoliuk in the area. Dalot gets across to make a vital sliding challenge.
It’s all Brentford just now.
25 min A deep corner is headed wide by Wissa, who gives fresh air a Glasgow kiss in frustration. It didn’t look the easiest chance, given how many players were competing for the ball, but he was obviously frustrated.
24 min: Toney hits the post! Lewis-Potter, who has been bright at left wing-back, threads a nice pass infield to Wissa. He opens his body to guide a first-time pass through the legs of Varane and into the space behind the defence. Toney gets a yard on Lindelof and sweeps a shot from the edge of the area that beats Onana and hits the inside of the far post.
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23 min At the other end, Dalot’s chipped cross hits the back of Garnacho, under pressure at the far post, and bounces wide.
23 min Wissa turns Mainoo and slips an angled pass to find Yarmoliuk on the right side of the area. His cross is too close to Onana.
22 min Toney changes the angle via a one-two with Janelt and whips a shot that goes behind off Fernandes. Brentford’s fourth corner in as many minutes is cleared by Varane (I think), but United still can’t out. Lewis-Potter curls a cross from the left that is headed over by Zanka, 10 yards out. He was moving away from goal so it wasn’t much of a chance.
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20 min This is an excellent spell for Brentford, who now have a free-kick just outside the area. It’s a long way to the left of centre, maybe too wide for a shot. Ivan Toney does not concur.
19 min Jensen robs the dithering Fernandes on the right wing and belabours a cross that is palmed away by Onana. I think it was a cross, anyway – it would have been an absurd angle from which to shoot.
19 min That second corner leads to a third. It’s taken short and returned to Jensen, whose excellent cross is headed away well by Varane.
18 min Wissa’s cutback from the byline looks set to reach Toney until the sliding Lindelof puts it behind for a corner. That was vital defending. The corner bounces across the area to Lewis-Potter, whose close-range shot hits Varane and goes over for another…
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15 min Fernandes’s corner is headed away at the near post. The match is a bit flat.
14 min Fernandes is able to collect his own loose touch on the edge of the area and square the ball to Dalot, whose shot hits Collins and goes behind for a corner.
11 min Wan-Bissaka loses the ball in midfield and Brentford break. The move slows down but they keep the ball for 30 seconds or so before Yarmoliuk’s pass goes astray.
10 min Rashford has started quite brightly at the other end, where United are having the majority of possession. That suits both teams.
7 min Jensen’s outswinging corner is met by Toney, who loses Rashford far too easily near the penalty spot. His downward header bounces a few yards wide of the far post. That wasn’t great from Rashford, who at times this season has looked allergic to defending.
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6 min Lewis-Potter cuts inside from the left and clips a deep cross towards Toney, forcing Wan-Bissaka to head behind for a corner. Toney hurt his ankle while getting into position but seems to be okay.
3 min A United counter-attack ends with Fernandes driving wide from 25 yards. He started the move too – first with an important interception in his own area, then with a long pass to released Rashford on the left.
1 min Peep peep! Man Utd kick off from right to left as we watch. Both formations are as expected.
“Your ‘chapter and verse’ update reminded me of the memoir of the same title by Bernard Sumner of Joy Division, New Order and Electronic fame,” says Peter Oh. “One of its many entertaining moments was when he - a Salford-born Man United diehard - showed up for taping of the video for ‘World in Motion’ in Liverpool dressed in an Elvis outfit, driving a convertible.
“I’m a big fan of Sumner’s work but not so much United’s so it goes without saying that I hope the Red Devils ‘Feel Every Bee’ tonight!”
Match report: Aston Villa 2-0 Wolves
Aston Villa have beaten Wolves 2-0 in the (early) evening game. Should you so desire, Barry Glendenning will give you chapter and verse.
Team news: Yarmoluk starts
That preamble went well: Bryan Mbeumo is only on the bench for Brentford. Thomas Frank makes two changes from the defeat at Brentford. Keane Lewis-Potter replaces the suspended Sergio Reguilon at left wing-back; the young Ukraine midfielder Yegor Yarmoliuk starts ahead of Frank Onyeka.
Manchester United are unchanged from the win over Liverpool. Or rather, they have the same starting XI – the team that finished the match will be the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question in years to come. The influential Lisandro Martinez, who last played against West Ham two months ago, returns from injury and is on the bench. So is Casemiro – but not Amad Diallo, who is suspended.
Brentford (possible 5-3-2) Flekken; Roerslev, Zanka, Ajer, Collins, Lewis-Potter; Yarmoliuk, Jensen, Janelt; Wissa, Toney.
Substitutes: Trevitt, Maupay, Ghoddos, Onyeka, Mbeumo, Strakosha, Damsgaard, Baptiste, Kim.
Man Utd (possible 4-2-3-1) Onana; Dalot, Lindelof, Varane, Wan-Bissaka; McTominay, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund.
Substitutes: Amrabat, Maguire, Martinez, Mount, Eriksen, Casemiro,
Antony, Heaton, Kambwala.
Referee Simon Hooper.
Your Bees to take on Manchester United 🐝#BREMUN | #BrentfordFC pic.twitter.com/RVqVjvDjvM
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) March 30, 2024
Braced for the Bees 🐝#MUFC || #BREMUN
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 30, 2024
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Preamble
A week is a long time in football, never mind 19 months. Results are forgotten, the news cycle moves on, simplistic narratives congeal and we all forget how inappropriately we reacted to that VAR decision. But a handful of things stay fresh and vivid in the memory. When Manchester United last visited Brentford, for their first away game under Erik ten Hag, they were 4-0 down after 35 minutes. It was an astonishing humiliation, one from which they have arguably never recovered.
While Ten Hag did brilliantly to win a trophy and finish third in his first season, it was a hand-to-mouth triumph. The Brentford defeat meant he was under pressure from the start and had no space to develop the style of play everyone expected from an Ajax alumnus.
Only three or four of the United XI from that game will start tonight, so it’s not really about revenge, but there’s an undeniable symbolism about United’s return to Brentford – especially as Ten Hag’s job was being advertised on the back pages during the international break.
That international break came at a bad time for United, who would have loved to go again and again and again after their amazing FA Cup victory over Liverpool. Plenty compared Amad Diallo’s winner to Mark Robins’ goal against Nottingham Forest in 1990, the sliding door of Sir Alex Ferguson’s time at the club. And while United wouldn’t mind winning 13 Premier League titles under Ten Hag, they would appreciate one deviation from the Fergie template: the next game.
In 1990, United followed their win at Forest with a league game at home to Derby County in the league. Steve Bruce was sent off for trying to boot Dean Saunders out of the ground, Derby won 2-1 and United – on a run of nine league games without a win – stayed only two points above the relegation places. Even when you can see the gate to the shining uplands, and you dance towards it whistling Happy Go Lucky Me, you should watch where you’re walking.
United probably need to win tonight to maintain their outside chance of Champions League qualification. It’s arguably an even bigger game for Brentford, who will move seven points clear of the bottom three with a victory.
For a side on a run of five defeats in the last six leagues games and 12 in the last 15, Brentford may approach this game with incommensurate confidence. There’s one main reason for that. It’s likely that, for the first time this season, Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo will start together up front together. Just like they did when United were last here.
Kick off 8pm.
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