At half-time the home team were being booed down the tunnel, with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” hounding the heels of Erik Ten Hag.
At full-time the same team were riding a wave of euphoria down the tunnel, with Ten Hag being hailed as the second coming by the home faithful.
If there was ever a game of 2 halves… this was it!
Neither team was truly incredible in the first 45 minutes, but it was the Bees that edged it in both possession, aggression and chances.
Scoring in the first minute has been Brentford’s move recently, but this time Ethan Pinnock opened their account in the final minutes of added time at the end of the half.
The home defence disintegrated for that opener and perhaps Pinnock and his visiting back 4 colleagues took too much notice of that as they proceeded to disintegrate themselves in the next 45.
Taking the lead at Old Trafford is not new for my beloved Brentford, who have also lead in their last 2 away games this season, but what is also not new is what happened after the break.
Last October it took a stoppage time brace from Scott McTominay to smoke out the Bees’ hopes of a victorious journey south, scoring his first in the 93rd minute, but this time surrendered the points in far more routine fashion.
Alejandro Garnacho found Sepp Van De Berg’s number at half-time and used it to run circles round him all second half, including leaving his marker marooned in midfield whilst Garnacho made use of the freedom of the Brentford box to tap home Marcus Rashford’s cross at the back post less than 120 seconds after the restart.
When Rasmus Hojlund administered the coup de grace 120 seconds after the hour mark the only people surprised in the stadium were those who had meant to spend the day at the other Old Trafford.
Having barely threatened before half-time the hosts tore the visitors apart in the second 45, whilst the hosts did what they do best on the road this season.
Brentford have taken the lead in 3 of our 4 away games this season and lost every single one. For those of us who have followed them nationwide since promotion to the top table there is a huge sense of de ja vu.
In the 2022/23 Premier League season we topped the table for most points dropped and it’s starting to feel like we are on the route to topping it again this season, we are already on 9 from our last 3 matches after all.
Sure they’ve been at Spurs and both Manchester teams, never easy places to go, but even so we have to turn this trend around soon to avoid topping that table as the De Ja Vu engulfs us again.
The expected return from injury of Rico Henry, Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen is expected soon and whilst this will undoubtedly help, the sense of De Ja Vu that comes from further injuries being suffered is dreaded far more than any other source of the same sense.
Our first chance to expel the putrid stench of De Ja Vu from our season comes tomorrow against the newly promoted Tractor Boys.
They have yet to get their engine started since promotion, with just 4 draws and no wins from their 8 matches so far, lets make sure they board the coach back to East Anglia with their engines still silent and the stench of De Ja Vu stalking their steps… again.
The Football tourist 