Erik ten Hag bailed out by individual briliance – Weekly Takeaway

With Erik Ten Hag under intense pressure as Manchester United manager, it was his front three that bailed him out again, from what looked like it could have been yet another disappointing result for United.

United controversially went into the break trailing to Brentford, but positive performances from Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Højlund and especially Alejandro Garnacho earned United the victory against an admittedly underwhelming Brentford side.

Ten Hag showed faith in his favoured forward trio and he was right to do so, as they all left Old Trafford with a goal contribution on Saturday afternoon, with Rashford assisting Garnacho’s leveller shortly after half-time before Højlund cutely dinked it over Mark Flekken for United’s winner. Fans went to social media again before kick-off to question the manager’s choice of lineup, claiming that Ten Hag was fielding the exact same attacking three, somehow expecting a different outcome, but this time he was proven right.

The front three seemed to be part of everything positive that happened in the game and have given the manager decisions to make in upcoming games with many fans also thinking that Amad Diallo is deserving of a place in the starting 11 after his start to the season.

A good problem to have for a manager, but with a lot of games coming up, including both Europa League and Carabao Cup ties in the next few weeks, there will likely be a fair bit of rotation across the front line.

Højlund’s 2nd goal in three starts so far this season likely gives him the nod over new signing Joshua Zirkzee heading into a busy few weeks for United, whilst Rashford, Garnacho and Amad continue to give Ten Hag a headache when choosing his starting 11.

Ten Hag described how he really enjoyed watching both Rashford and Garnacho and how they showed what they are capable of, but it will be vital that they continue performances like these for United to be able to build momentum and climb the table after their poor start.

Despite getting the three points, it was far from a convincing win, as Brentford were surprisingly poor and did not offer much going forward, only forcing one save out of Andre Onana.

United probably should have scored four or five, but it’s not surprising that they left only scraping a 2-1 win as they have had serious issues in front of goal so far this season. Undoubtedly an improvement on recent weeks, but a long way to go as United only converted two of their 23 shots in the game.

But all in all, a performance to build on and a very important win for both the players and the manager, ahead of Thursday’s difficult trip to the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium to face Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbache in the Europa League. Another must-win game after two disappointing draws to start their Europa League campaign, but not an easy fixture in the slightest.