Man U Rescheduled it

This week I went back to London for a game at the Brentford Community stadium that had originally fallen to the Apocalypse and was now going ahead just over a month later than scheduled. The Brentford game in question was the visit of Manchester United to the newly promoted Londoners.

This was the first meeting between the teams since a League Cup meeting in 1977 and their first meeting in the league since 1946. Both of those games were United wins, with the Brentford win dating back to 1938 when they won 2-0 in the FA Cup 5th round. That is quite the gap in time since Brentford have won this fixture, but I went down for this one with hope that they could be successful this time around and even the Man U fans that I met on the tube to the game were positive about the Bees’ chances.

The visitors were in better form coming into this one than perhaps their fans recognised though as they have only lost one of their last eleven games in all competitions since Rangnick took over in November. Yeah they did surrender a two-goal lead last weekend but other than that they have been doing well under their new manager. They are one of only two teams that have scored in all of their away games this season and came into this one looking for their 300th away league win of all time.

Add to that the fact that Brentford had conceded seven goals in their previous two games and only scored once in them and it certainly looked like the away fans had hopes of a positive outcome to the match. One thing the visiting fans could be sure of though was that their team would be getting the first goal as Brentford had conceded the opening goal in 13 of their last 14 matches. The gap between the clubs in only 9 points at this point in the season and 7 places, with Man U in 7th and their hosts in 14th.

For this match and with a free day beforehand I was able to get to the ground for the arrival of the visiting coaches. The visiting players went straight from their coaches into the stadium without waving at the fans lining the barriers to see them. Only David DeGea and Juan Mata broke the mould on this and acknowledged the fans, many of whom were visiting fans, but I didn’t see Cristiano Ronaldo making his way off the coaches. Unless he got off the coaches before they arrived or me and everyone around me at the barriers somehow didn’t spot one of the most famous footballers of all time or he got to the ground at another time to avoid the crowds. I have no idea which it was, but I do like to think that hundreds of football fans would notice CR7 getting off a football coach.

At this point I still had more than an hour till kick-off so I decided to use some of the time to head to the club shop and buy a keyring for the team I have supported for years. I have had a keyring for Griffin Park, but never just for Brentford and now was definitely the time to change that. I also bought a programme for the game and on there was quite a surprise, the away team had a man just listed as Hannibal on the programme. He was not in the matchday squad for them, but still it’s a strange choice of name for anyone who has seen silence of the lambs or knows their punic wars and I’m really looking forward to hearing commentators talking about him on Sky, BT, Amazon and Match of the Day. Also not in the squad was Paul Pogba, who missed out with injury.

I headed into the stadium with an hour to go before the match and found the stands almost completely deserted. Now a football stadium without fans in it is an extremely creepy place to be and how teams played in them in 2020 when no fans were allowed inside I have no idea. I couldn’t stand 5 minutes in that cavernous bowl with no atmosphere and headed back to the concourse just in time to see the teams announced on the concourse screens. Having not seen CR7 exit the away team busses I was shocked to see him in the starting 11 and even more so to see Bruno Fernandez in there alongside them. They have been the Gerrard and Lampard of the Portuguese national team for years now, so to see how they did in a club game together was going to be interesting.

Theses two talisman’s of Portuguese football could not have been much further apart when the visitors warmed up though. Whenever they were doing any exercises in two lines C. Ronaldo would be at the back of one of the lines and B. Fernandez was at the front of the other one. Even when they came over to right in-front of where I was for the final part of the warm up, before heading inside for a final ream talk, they still went to opposite ends of opposite lines. They did share a fist bump as C. Ronaldo gave one to each of his teammates as they made their way over and he even gave a couple of them pep-talks as the warm up came to an end. None of that seemed to make much difference once the game got underway though.

Brentford were on the attack from the kick-off and the visitors looked shell-shocked. It took all of two minutes for the bees to create their first chance of the match. Mbeumo waltzed past Dalot and attempted to slip a cut back to the penalty spot, but it got deflected back to Jensen on the edge of the box who let rip. His shot rifled just past the left-hand post, but it wouldn’t be the last chance of a first half dominated by the hosts.

The hosts next chance came just two minutes after the first as they floated a freekick to the back post which is headed back across goal and comes inches from connecting with Ivan Toney, but the visitors are able to clear it away just in time to keep the scores equal early on.

It took six minutes for the visitors to get a sustained period of possession and another two minutes before they created a chance of their own in the match. This came from a corner on the right that got headed clear and recycled to halfway. Then a great pass down the left got a visiting player in space for the first time all match and the resulting cross caused all sorts of problems in the hosts defence before a combination of Lossl and Jansson managed to get the ball clear and away. It came right back in the 10th minute though and this time the visitors chance came down the right. This time though the deep cross was just a little too high for the onrushing Bruno Fernandez to connect with at the back post.

Those scares seemed to boost the hosts and hyper-focus them on what they needed to do as they created chance after chance in the 12th minute. The bees first chance of this quick fire trio was created with a cross from the left that found Jensen 6 yards from goal. The ball was nipped off his feet by the visiting defence but fell to Janelt nearby who let rip and guided his shot agonising wide of the right hand post. There must have been a deflection on it though as the ref gave a corner to the hosts, they ended up taking three back to back. From the first of these the home defence had no time smuggling the ball behind for another corner. The second corner caused them more problems as DeGea could only clear it to the feet of Mads Bech 15yards out who saw his shot deflected inches wide of the post. The third corner presented the most clear-cut chance for Brentford to take the lead. It fell to the feet of Jensen who somehow managed to fire the ball over the bar from just 8 yards out. All of those chances were ones that you would expect to be buried at this level and it absolutely should have been 1-0 to Brentford at this stage.

The next chance for 1-0 that the hosts would waste came in the 16th minute as the bees work the ball wonderfully down the right hand side and then feed the ball to Mbuemo with only the keeper to beat. The duel was won by DeGea who got down to save Mbuemo’s shot with his legs. Luckily for Mbuemo his blushes were saved by the linesman who flagged for an offside against Baptise in the build up. At this point I was already getting nervous about all these missed chances as I wrote in my notes that the Bees can’t afford to be letting chances like this go begging and expect not to be punished for it later.

The visitors wasted a chance to punish their hosts for missing so many chances in the 18th minute, when a freekick from the left fell to Mason Greenwood on the edge of the box but his shot lacked power and was easily cleared upfield by the host’s defenders. The promising break that developed was brought to an end though when Mbuemo overhit his through ball to Jensen and the break broke down.

There was a break in the game in the 22nd minute when a collision, near the corner flag at the end of the West Stand that the visitors were attacking, results in Jansonn and Fred ending up on the canvas. They were checked over by the medics and were able to continue playing, but these checks took some time to ensure that both players had not suffered a concussion. In this break the visiting fans piped up to remind the home fans why they had come to see the match or at least the reason the visiting fans thought we had, ‘You’ve only come to see Ronaldo’. I’m sure there was some truth in this for some of the fans in the home stands, but it was interesting that even fans of Man U thought we’d come to see one player rather than their whole team.

Speaking of CR7 he came inches away from connecting with an inswinging corner in the 29th minute. Unfortunately for CR7 the ball was once again played in a little bit too high and flew harmlessly away from danger. The next corner for the visitors resulted in a chance for the hosts. They broke up field and played a lovely set of passes from Mbuemo, Toney and Jensen. The ball eventually fell to Jensen one-on-one with the keeper just 8 yards from goal, but DeGea won this duel too as he once again saved with his feet. The ball ended at the feet of Toney on the left and a deflection from the resulting cross nearly resulted in an own goal, but once again this one went inches wide of the post.

The Bees were creating a lot of chances and would go on to waste even more chances in the 35th minute, but by this point I was so infuriated with the profligacy of the host’s attackers that I didn’t even bother writing down who wasted them this time. It was becoming rather ridiculous how easy Brentford were finding it to create chances and equally ridiculous brilliant they were becoming at wasting them. The last chance that Brentford wasted this half came in the 38th minute as a Toney shot from the edge of the box.

The football on display had certainly not warranted a first half that ended 0-0 but the host’s ability to waste chances meant that the first half did indeed end 0-0. No-one in the stand around me could understand why it was still all-square at the break and how on earth Brentford had failed to score. The guy two seats away from me on my row, who was wearing a bee costume after losing a bet, even called how things would go in the second half. His words to me at half-time were ‘we are going to lose this one, you can’t miss that many chances and win cause there’s no wat they can be that bad second half’ and he couldn’t have been more right.?

Rangnick made no changes at half-time despite the abysmal display from his team in the first half, but what he said to them during the break clearly had an effect as the came out in the visitors came out with a new sense of purpose in their play and were now attacking at speed and actually putting passes together now.

This new lease of life for the visitors almost paid dividends in the first minute of the half as a cross from space on the right reached CR7 at the perfect height at the back post and his header across goal looked like it might be sneaking in under the bar. It did not and instead rebounded away off the bar. This was by far and away the closest the visitors had come to scoring all match so far and the first time they had even really threatened the hosts goal.

From the rebound off the bar the hosts broke upfield and Mbuemo once again fed the ball through to Jensen who found himself one-on-one with DeGea once more. The duel this time was won by the keeper once again though and this time he used his hands. This time the shot was so weak that it just rolled into DeGea’s arms.

Then in the 54th minute a rare mistake from CR7 gifted the ball to Jensen and this time he doesn’t even bother trying to start another Brentford attack and risk another duel with DeGea. This time he decided that since the simple hadn’t worked he would instead go for the spectacular and attempt to score from the halfway line. As had been the theme so far this match it did not work out well for Brentford. The shot was drifting harmlessly wide, but DeGea walked across his box to catch it anyway.

A minute later the host’s punishment finally began as the visitors took a lead that their play had done very little to deserve so far this match. Their opening goal came through Anthony Elanga who had a tap in from 2 yards out after a ball over the top that he beat Lossl too. I was busy writing my note on Jensen’s effort from halfway at the time of the visitors attack and only looked up in time to see Elanga score the goal.

Seeing the visitors take the lead was a punch in the gut after the hosts had dominated the game to that point and come so close to taking the lead so many times in the first half.

Two minutes later the visitors almost had a second as McTominay took a shot from 20 yards out that Lossl contrived to ladle behind for a corner. Lossl had been relatively untested in the first half on his first home league start since signing for the Bees, but here he showed the first sign that it may take him some time to adjust to his new surroundings.

The whole Brentford team seemed to lose all confidence after conceding that first goal and despite Janelt’s attempt at the spectacular to draw them level in the 60th minute their play went to pot from here on out and they went further behind in the 62nd minute.

The visitors second goal came through a ball over the top to Bruno Fernandez that took the whole of the host’s defence out of the game. Fernandez was not alone in getting in behind the Bees backline and he chose not to shoot himself, but to set up his companion instead. He rolled the ball across the box for Mason Greenwood to tap-in from 10 yards out. That was one of the simplest goals I have ever seen scored at a match at any level and it seemed to signal the opening of the floodgates for the visitors.

A third goal for the visitors almost came to pass in the 66th minute when an inviting cross to the back post by Bruno Fernandez was just a little too much for CR7 to get his feet ready for in time and the great man ended up flat on his back in the box.

By this point both managers had decided that changes were needed and it was the host’s Thomas Frank that made the first moves. He made a double substitution in the 63rd minute as he replaced Sergi Canos with Rico Henry and Vitaly Janelt with Shandon Baptiste in an attempt to add some fresh legs to his team and perhaps a new impetus after conceding two goals in quick succession. These substitutions were followed up by the substitution that many Bees fans had been hoping for at half-time as Jensen was replaced by Yoane Wissa. This change was wanted by many around me as Wissa was seen as a more natural finisher than Jensen, but there is no doubting that Jensen had not had a bad game by any stretch. He had got into many great positions and caused the visitors defence many problems in the first half and if he keeps getting in those positions then the goals that hadn’t come today will start to flow soon.

The visitors responded to these substitutions with two of their own. The first of these saw Greenwood replaced with Rashford, but it was the second substitution that got the biggest reaction from players and fans alike; CR7 was taken off to be replaced by Harry Maguire. This was a strange call for many reasons, not least of which was that CR7 had been causing the hosts problems even in the first half but also as it seemed to signify a change of shape for the visitors. They appeared to be shutting up shop and settling for a 2-0 win which seemed a strange call when they had been so clearly on top since they took the lead.

The changes had no effect on the momentum of the game though as Brentford almost gifted their visitors a third in the 74th minute when the messing around at the back, that they had gotten away with against Port Vale nearly cost them here. Luckily for the hosts though Pinnock was able to get back to nip the ball off Fernandez’s feet as he went to shoot and the score remained at 0-2 for now.

I say for now as it only took 3 more minutes for the visitors to actually add their third. A defence splitting ball on the right made it through to Rashford who rifled it past Lossl at his near post. It was a great goal, but as a home fan this was the point the last vestige of hope inside me died and the game became a dead rubber for the last 13 minutes as it was now clear who was getting the three points.

The visitor’s bench was so confident that the game was now won that in the 84th minute they took off their opening scorer Elanga and replaced him with defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic in an attempt to consolidate their clean sheet.

It didn’t work as just a minute after this change the hosts finally got the goal that their first half performance had deserved. This consolation came through Ivan Toney who turned home a long throw from Mads Bech from the right touchline, but at this point I was so sure that there was no comeback in the offing that I was unable to take any joy in seeing Brentford finally take one of the chances they had created.

This was the last chance that Brentford created in the match and also the final threatening chance of the game. In the four minutes added at the end of the 90 Fernandez did find himself free in the box with just Lossl to beat, but his attempted chip was weak and Lossl didn’t even have to move to catch it. This was the last action of the match as the ref then blew his whistle for a match that proves the old proverb that football is a match of two halves and is also notable for having not a single card shown all match.

The game ended a 3-1 to Manchester United and whilst this was a score no-one would’ve predicted after the first half, it does show the truth behind another old proverb ‘you have to take your chances when you have them’. Thomas Frank always says that Brentford either win or learn from each match and I hope today they have learnt that proverb and never forget it.

I will be back with Brentford when they visit Everton in the FA Cup fourth round, but this weekend I’m off to Manchester tomorrow for a day of Women’s football. I will be visiting both United and City and will be looking to blog both of them next week, lets see how I do with that.