Only half a performance, but a dream of a scoresheet
Elanga, Greenwood, Rashford: just the names the fans would have chosen
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Brentford 1, United 3
This was our old friend, the game of two halves. In the first half United had all the possession and no real chances, while Brentford had all the chances and no real threat. David de Gea, as so often, kept the scores level. United’s other main men, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes, were both dropping too deep. We don’t know what United had to drink at half-time, but it did the trick. They came out fighting as Scott McTominay took the game by the scruff of the neck and Fred continued his new-found creativity: that lofted through ball to Anthony Elanga was so ambitious that you wondered if he was Bruno in disguise. Then Fernandes himself, after returning to form with two goals at Villa Park, added two sharp assists. More than halfway through the season, United finally have a player with more assists in the league (five) than Paul Pogba managed on the first day (four).
The scoresheet was a United fan’s dream, featuring three young strikers, all Academy graduates. And their goals were deliciously different: a clever flick and neat header from Elanga, a simple tap-in from Mason Greenwood, and a measured screamer from Marcus Rashford. Before the game, all United’s England stars were out of form, out of the team, or both. Now two of them have taken a big step back to being themselves.
Cristiano Ronaldo's chest played better than the rest of him. He was one of United’s many problems in the first half, barely contributing anything. But great strikers often produce a stroke of genius out of nowhere and Ronaldo did it with rare ingenuity, twisting his body and bracing his pecs to turn McTominay’s speculative chip into a through ball for Fernandes and a move that suggested they can work together after all. After Fernandes had done the rest with a selfless lay-off to Greenwood, Ronaldo could be seen in the huddle, saying something like ‘Come on guys, concentrate, don’t blow another 2-0 lead’. That was just the sort of statesmanship this team needs. And then he went and blew it by being a whingebag on the bench.
Rangnick’s game management, so poor at Villa Park, was better here. After seeing his new 4-3-3 misfire in the first half, he stuck with it, reasoning that it wasn't the formation that was the problem, but United’s lack of hunger in the face of Brentford’s tireless running. He sent Rashford on at just the right moment, with 20 minutes left as those Brentford legs were tiring, and reaped his reward. He also switched to a back three to defend a 2-0 lead, the very move that he had thought would send the wrong signal against Villa. It was still questionable: part of the point was to stiffen United’s resistance to set pieces, which didn’t work as they conceded in the melee following a long throw. Donny van de Beek or Juan Mata (remember him?) might well have added more than Harry Maguire, who was perhaps only preferred to pour cold water on the story that had appeared on 90min.com alleging that Rangnick doesn’t rate him (or Aaron Wan-Bissaka or, more surprisingly, Luke Shaw). The upshot, as too often, was that van de Beek featured only as the focus of some affectionate chants. Rangnick seems to have forgotten how effective van de Beek and the 4-D-2 were at closing out the 1-0 win over Villa in the Cup. A strange case of diamonds are for never.
Half a performance was enough to beat Brentford, but it’s unlikely to work against West Ham. Although they’ve wobbled lately, losing 3-2 to both Leeds and Southampton, Moyes’ boys have been at their best against their biggers and betters, beating Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs. And they’ve already won at Old Trafford this season, when they dumped United’s 2nd XI out of the League Cup and started the spiral that brought down Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The irony is that Rangnick’s United continue to perform much like Solskjaer’s – blowing hot and cold, losing at home, doing better away, depending too much on de Gea, not waking up till half-time. Sacking the manager is one thing, changing the culture another.