Righto, Jamie Jackson’s match report is with us.
That being the case, that’s it from me. Thanks for your company and comments – sorry I couldn’t use them all – and peace out.
“Personally I’d find room for Kanté and Cantona in their respective XIs,” says Kári Tulinius.
You could make a strong case that Cantona is the most influential player ever to play in British football – only George Best can rival him, I’d say. But I needed three midfielders i my United team and, as Juventus away in 1996 showed, he was no lone front man.
As for Kanté, excellent player but Vieira’s legs, height, power and feet make him a better option in mine.
On the ball – guess the footballer
The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for?
“Fun game,” reckons Dean Kinsella. “Utd’s HR dept should be working night and day to find a way to keep Casemiro one more season. That was a brilliant performance.”
I’m sure everyone at United would want him to stay in an ideal world, but his lack of legs are one reason they struggle to control game, and I imagine the idea is to replace him with someone who enables that. They’ll miss his presence and, amazingly, his goals, but he’d cost too much to be a reserve if they only signed one midfielder as a consequence, an injury or suspension to him and they’d be back to where they are now.
“I’m sorry but I can’t take seriously a selection that places Terry ahead of Campbell or King (and I’ve no north London affiliations),” chides Geoff Wignall. “Terry was OK, even effective within his very marked limits; but he basically owed his career to Ashley Cole, who allowed him to get away with operating as a square on centre back.”
Yeah, I don’t agree with that – Terry was excellent before Chelsea even signed Cole. I agree Campbell and King were excellent, but the latter did nowhere near enough to feature, sadly, while the former wasn’t as good with his feet, though he was faster and stronger.
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Carrick’s United are getting really good at doing enough to win. I don’t think it’s sustainable, but assuming the summer signings improve them it won’t need to be.
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I really enjoy Keith Andrews’ Brentford – more so than Thomas Frank’s, I think, because they play with a bit more enterprise and freedom. If they can hang on to their better players – though they’ve shown us they don’t even need to – they can be even more competitive next season.
FULL TIME: Manchester United 2-1 Brentford
United do just enough in a really fun game, cementing themselves in third place; they’re maximum two points away from the Champions League, while Brentford remain eighth.
90+6 min … and again, Casemiro purchases a free-kick, getting in front then falling over when the inevitable hand feathers his shoulder.
90+5 min Gary Neville names Casemiro player of the match and I can’t argue with that. What a player he’s been. but there’s more work for him to do yet, Kayode now on the left to fling into the box. It’s now or not at all…
90+4 min Damsgaard scoops one in behind but Nelson, racing towards the by-line, can only help the ball over it, Casemiro there to make sure.
90+3 min Casemiro leaps, makes sure to go down in a challenge with Collins, and buys the free-kick.
90+2 min …which United clear. Zirkzee is then booked, after which Brentford win a throw, Kayode to hurl in/
90+1 min We’ll have five additional minutes; Zirkzee in on for Sesko and Brentford win a corner…
90 min Outtara has tie to pick a cross and he flights a lovely, flat ball into the middle, and Damsgaard is up, running across Casemiro … he heads firmly … but straight at Lammens!
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89 min We said earlier on that Lammens’ principal weakness is in dealing with long shots and, though he saw that one late, he didn’t move until it was almost past him.
WHAT A GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Brentford (Jensen 88)
Livener! Nelson feeds it across to Jensen who, 20 yards out and just right of centre, unleashes a venomous outswinger that shrieks and hisses in off the far post, two-thirds of the way up, Lammens slow to react. Eyes down for a tense final few!
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86 min Brentford win a corner and United clear the first ball…
86 min “Just a couple bits about your All-Time Man Utd PL team,” writes Will Harris-Brown. “Jaap Stam was a top defender for a bit, but the mythos has made him this world conquerer despite not much to back it up. Vidic won two player of the year awards, hes was the only defender to do it even once (before Ruben Dias somehow won it over Harry Kane that year) and is undoubtedly the better of the baldy hard men duo.
Secondly, and this is more of a tactical objection, with Irwin as your right back, you have left-footers at both full back positions and no width in midfield. With Giggs and Ronado as your wingers, was your plan just to completely overload the left side of the pitch and forget about the other?”
Irwin was two-footed – he only moved to the left when Parker was signed – while Stam was quicker than Vidic and better on the ball, though not as good at stopping attacks before they started.
85 min Fernandes down the line for Dalot, whose low cross isn’t bad, but Collins is there to intercept with Sesko lurking.
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83 min Joshua Zirkzee gets ready to come on, and I wonder if, assuming as now seems likely, United play in the Champions League next season, we see more of him next season. I’m not sure he’s athletic enough for the Prem, but he has a lovely touch and feel so, with the right players around him, he can offer a different option … if he decides to be more ruthless when offered shooting opportunities. An extra pass might look nice, but looking nice isn’t his job.
81 min Another throw to Brentford, again Kayode flings in, and again United defend it well enough. Then, when the ball comes back via cross to the back post, Mazraoui does really well to win a header under pressure.
79 min “I think your instinct’s right with Mo for Suarez and Becks for Bruno,” says Steve Hoare. “Then I think I’d prefer David Silva or Fabregas ahead of Yaya. But that’s just a personal style thing. Ooh - or Modric?”
I don’t think Modric was as good as the best in the time he was in the Prem, but of course is one of the best to play in it. I guess I went for athleticism and power, with feet and brain, rather than pure feet and brain, but I see both sides.
77 min Lovely from United, pinging short, hard passes about the edge of the box, Mainoo, Bruno and Mount involved, before the ball goes back to Casemiro and from 22 yards, he laces a shot that fizzes a yard past the post. Fernandes wants a corner, either for a deflection, which there might’ve been, or for the save, which there wasn’t; he and Thiago exchange sentiments, then on goes the game.
76 min Heaven carries the ball forward and a frustrated Thiago clips him; he’s booked.
75 min Mbeumo, by the way, hasn’t scored since the first week in February. He was impressive before Afcon, though, when United were really struggling.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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13 min That’s now nine league goals for Casemiro; it’s not often you see a player whose timing and execution are both stellar, never mind a defensive midfielder who scored 24 goals in 221 games for Real Madrid.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Brentford (Casemiro 11)
It’s absolutely absurd, it really is. Bruno swings the corner out and Maguire is totally unmarked, nodding back to what was the near post where Casemiro sneaks in behind the defensive line to again deposit an expert headed finish into the roof. How on earth are United going to replace his output?
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10 min United fancy Mbeumo in behind Lewis-Potter, another ball setting him away and he’s got a start on Collins, who gets back at him well, conceding another corner.
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10 min It’s been a really good start – there’s proper tempo to the game.
8 min Bruno’s corner picks out Mauire at the back post, he arches backwards to make it his, butts firmly … and Kelleher claws away, just, some of the ball over the line but the rest not.
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8 min United have stared well and Bruno sweeps out to Mbeumo – seeing the farthest pass first, as Glenn Hioddle said of David Beckham. The eventuating cross, though, is blocked at source.
7 min “Yes, all joking aside,” retyuns Justin, “if readers haven’t ever heard of Eamon Dunphy’s work, he is a very fine sports journalist, well worth checking out. And no, he’s not my uncle or anything. And neither is Chris Kavanagh, tonight’s ref, btw. Only a Game is a classic fly-on-the-wall account of a season in freefall in mid-1970s Cold Blow Lane.”
It starts so positively too, which is why it’s so heartbreaking as it progresses.
6 min Now Brentford counter and Shaw hauls down Schade on halfway; he’s booked.
5 min United win another corner, again cleared, but they’ve started well here.
3 min The corner is cleared to Shaw, who leathers over the top from distance.
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2 min OH MY DAYS HOW HAS AMAD MISSED THIS?! Mainoo gets on the ball and runs – United have been poor at putting him where he can do what makes him special, beating men in small spaces with such dexterity you barely believe he’s come out with the ball. He sways inside and away from Damsgaard and, now in the box, feints and dips inside Yarmolyuk then Collins. He might shoot, but instead makes sure by squaring for Amad, who punches towards the far corner … only for the shot to clip Van den Berg’s heel and fly wide. That’s why you go high when faced with a man on the line.
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2 min United sweep forward with Bruno and Casemiro moving it quickly, then the ball arrives at Dalot inverting; he swipes into touch.
1 min For now, at least, it’s Mbeumo on the right and Amad on the left. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it’s because he badly needs a goal, so is in the position that best enables him to seek that.
1 min Away we go!
Our teams are tunnelled … and out they come!
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“You’d worry for Keith Andrews’ hair tonight with those ominous-looking storm clouds over Old Trafford,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “This is hair so great that it gets parodied on Irish TV alongside the bald truth of Liam Brady’s and another guy’s who used to play for Manchester United (but mainly Milwall) called Eamon Dunphy.”
It’s a work of art. I actually found a book Dunphy’s, Only A Game, in the school library – it’s a classic – and his biography of Matt Busby, A Strange Kind of Glory, is absolutely magnificent.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Brentford’s wide players do. They’ve got serious pace on both sides with Outtara and Schade, but also behind them, where Kayode and Lewis-Potter will be thrusting forward. Neither Luke Shaw nor Diogo Dalot are all that, and if both are pinned back, United might struggle defensively and also for width.
“Any idea why the he FA Cup semi was on TNT yesterday?” wonders Dave Estherby. “I give Sky enough money as it is and still miss the Saturday lunchtime game every week, now I have to go the pub for domestic Cup games too? Joke.
On another note, a well-known turf accountant was offering 1500-1 last week on Utd finishing higher than Arsenal; if that ain’t worth a tenner nothing is.
(Not to condone gambling etc…)”
Well they paid for the rights, but yes, it is absolutely the case that, generally speaking, monopolies are bad for consumers, but in the case of televised sport, it means more subscriptions are necessary – you also need Amazon Prime for Champions League. And it’s particularly egregious in the case of TNT, formerly BT, who used their historic telecoms monopoly to fund their tenders in order to flog broadband.
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So where is the game? United will look to find Bruno Fernandes, who’s recently started pulling wide to feed ball and swing over crosses; a question is whether Mainoo can continue the form he showed at Chelsea, linking play to get his attackers the ball. If his touch volume stays high, he can start controlling play, exactly what United currently lack – and their front players can score against anyone.
Brentford, meanwhile, will want to flood the middle of the pitch, where Casemiro can’t cover ground, and also look to double-up out wide, putting crosses into the box – and throws, and corners. For that reason, United will be happy to have Maguire back, but I’d not be surprised if Igor Thiago looks to drag him out to the wings, nor if Shade and Outtara come from out to in, looking to test his pace and get hi facing his own goal.
This is a pretty big game for Michael Carrick. As we said at the top, his team struggled against Leeds and also lost at Newcastle, despite playing against 10 for a half. Brentford will be similarly physical, so it’s up to United to show their manager can combat that kind of opponent.
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It seems like Benjamin Sesko is now installed as United’s first-choice centre-forward – though full confirmation will come next weekend, when Liverpool visit Old Trafford, as in previous big games, Carrick has deployed Mbeumo through the middle.
Ultimately, though, the club spent all that money on Sesko because the plan is for him to be a regular, so really, they need to build around him, which means better delivery from wide areas; I wonder if we’ll see whoever plays on the left whip balls for him to the front post, though I also think there’s hay to be made with Mbeumo coming inside to swing those in to the back stick.
It’s been a difficult second half of the season for Amad who, as a dribbler, offers a threat that no other United player does, and is also an excellent scavenger for possession. But his numbers are nowhere near where they need to be, which is presumably why he was left out at Chelsea.
Either Amad or Bryan Mbeumo will be playing out of position tonight. I’d imagine it’ll be Amad on the right and Mbeumo on the left, as the latter has the pace and power to go on the outside, the former less so.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is in the sky studio, for some reason dressed as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
As for Brentford, Andrews picks the same side for the third match in a row – partly a facility of those injuries – but Josh Dasilva is back on the bench after nobbling his knee in February 2024 and missing the entirety of last season. Godspeed, old mate.
So looking at that United XI, Harry Maguire returns after suspension, replacing Noussair Mazraoui, while Amad Diallo is back in with Cunha out. Otherwise, Patrick Dorgu is back on the bench having jiggered his hamstring at Arsenal in January, while Shea Lacey is rewarded for his excellent age-gpoup performances, included on the bench despite playing yesterday.
Now here’s Keith Andrews, and you’ll be delighted to know his barnet is looking lush. Brentford have earned the right to go into this match in a confident manner and though they’ve not earned as many points as he’d like in recent weeks, he’s been fairly happy with the performances; though he’s got injury problems, there’s a special togetherness within the group and he wants them to play with personality.
On Ciaomhin Kelleher, he says he’s known him a long time through Ireland, so when he became available, signing him was a no-brainer – and he felt it’d be a good move for the player.
Before we go over those, Michael Carrick is talking to Sky, telling them he wanted to get Kobbie Mainoo on to the pitch enjoying himself – he needed to find himself and against Chelsea, he was excellent – without giving him too much guidance.
On Ayden Heaven, he says he’s got the talent and did so well in the last game, he’s kept his place.
Otherwise, he’s been asked about what business the club needs to do in the summer and however long he’s there, he’s not taking short-term decisions, he wants the best for the football club. However long it goes on, he’s really enjoying working with the players.
Matheus Cunha hurt his hip flexor at Chelsea and improved during the week but they’re not risking him tonight.
Teams!
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Heaven, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Amad, Fernandes, Mbeumo; Sesko. Subs: Bayindir, Dorgu, Malacia, Mazraoui, Yoro, Mount, Ugarte, Lacey, Zirkzee.
Brentford (4-2-3-1): Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, Van Den Berg, Lewis-Potter- Jensen, Yarmoliuk; Schade, Damsgaard, Ouattara; Thiago. Subs: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Pinnock, Dasilva, Nelson, Ajer, Donovan, Furo, Shield.
Referee: Chris Kavangh (Ashton-under-Lyne)
Preamble
One of the most joyous things about football is how miserable it makes almost everyone – Arsenal, for example, are top of the table and in the semi-finals of the Champions League, yet there’s no sense anyone connected with them is enjoying any of it.
Unusually, though, both tonight’s clubs are pretty happy with life. United have near enough secured Champions League football for next season and, since Michael Carrick took over from Ruben Amorim, no side has won more points nor scored more goals. For the first time in a long time, talk of a title challenge doesn’t sound ridiculous.
Brentford, meanwhile, looked relegation favourites in August, losing some of their best players and their manager too. But Keith Andrews has guided them superbly such that they now sit eighth in the table, and have every chance of securing European football for the first time in their history.
And make no mistake, they’ll come to Old Trafford to win. It won’t have escaped Andrews’ attention how much United struggled with Leeds’ physicality this time last week and, though tonight’s probable centre-back partnership will be better able to cope with pressure of that sort, Brentford are better at applying it.
Which is to say that, with both teams committed to attack and needing points but not under pressure, this should be a lot of fun – unless one of football’s overarching truths decides to the contrary.
Kick-off: 8pm BST
