Man United 2 Brentford 1
Champions League secured for Man United. It was basically done anyway but barring a historic collapse Man United will be playing in the Champions League next season, unlike against Leeds a couple of weeks ago United flew out of the blocks as Brentford cleared the ball off the line twice as Amad and Maguire went close with the Ivorians cleared from the line after an unbelievable dribble from Mainoo past three Brentford defenders. United then took the lead in the 11th minute as Bruno Fernandes’ corner went to Maguire in the box who headed it back across to Casemiro who nodded home for his 9th Premier League goal of the season to put United in front, from there Brentford got to grips with the game and should have equalised as Igor Thiago had three great chances to score but through some brilliant saves from Lammens and some great defending United stayed in front. Then in the 43rd minute a brilliant interception from Amad gave United a 3 v 2 as Fernandes sped towards the goal with Mbeumo on the right and Sesko on the left, Fernandes waited until the perfect moment to slip Sesko in who feinted past the defender and fired past Kelleher to give United a 2-0 lead going into half-time. Going into the second half Carrick changed formation to a back 5 to try and stop Brentford creating so many chances which worked as the second half was far slower than the first which worked perfectly for United, until Mathias Jensen out of nowhere fired a missile past Lammens from outside the box to pull one back for Brentford in the 87th minute. Unfortunately for Brentford it was too little too late as United saw the game out to earn a crucial three points at Old Trafford.
Result the only thing that matters for United. Overall I don’t think United really played too badly in this game compared to what some people are saying, we easily could have been 3-0 up in the first 15 minutes if Amad and Maguire put their chances away along with Casemiro who yet again scored a header. Of course we were lucky that Igor Thiago had a very bad off day or else he easily could have scored a hat-trick in the first half but there was some great defensive contributions from Lammens and Heaven in particular to keep Brentford at bay in the first half. Yet again I thought our midfield was brilliant as Mainoo had yet another fabulous game and should have had the assist of the season if Amad finished past the two defenders on the line, alongside Mainoo was Casemiro who was excellent as well winning 15 out of 17 duels which was crucial along with the opening goal. I’ve been waxing lyrical all season about Bruno Fernandes who picked up his 19th assist of the season tonight for Sesko’s goal in what was another superb performance from the captain, unfortunately Amad and Mbeumo were poor on the flanks with the Ivorian getting taken off at half-time as Carrick changed formation, I’d love to see some improvement from the pair before the end of the season like we’ve seen from Sesko over the past few months who yet again played really well today, lets hope the improvement starts against Liverpool on Sunday.
Brentford unfortunate not to take anything from the game. Barring the first ten minutes you could argue that Brentford were the better team in the game but they just didn’t take their chances when they came, you’d think with the form Igor Thiago has been showing all season he’d be confident in front of goal but his hesitation ultimately cost him even a chance to shoot at goal as United’s defenders recovered to tackle him, the goal came too late as United defended well in the closing stages with Casemiro using his experience to win two fouls from Brentford’s late set-pieces. Brentford really needed more from their wide men today as Schade and Ouattara had poor games with the German only having 18 touches in the game which shows how quiet he was until he was subbed off in the 73rd minute, Ouattara also should have scored with a free header at the back post which hit the woodwork and really needed more conviction to hit the back of the net. It’s not the end of the world for Brentford who are still fighting for Europe which would still be an unbelievable season for a team which lost their two best players and manager last summer.
Are we at the point where Carrick has to be manager next season? I’ve been hesitant to shoot too soon on whether or not Carrick should be permanent manager going forward but we are getting to the point where you kinda have to give him the job, people will point to Solskjaer as to why United shouldn’t hire Carrick full-time but are quick to forget that Solskjaer has been United’s best manager post-Ferguson which isn’t saying much but if United had a proper summer in 2021 they would have fighting for the title after finishing 2nd the year before. Obviously that didn’t happen but just because Solskjaer failed in the end doesn’t mean Carrick will, since he’s come in United are top in the form table above City and Arsenal which clearly shows how well he’s doing with a squad I was told was mid-table at best in the summer. So is Carrick a brilliant manager or do United actually have quite a good squad? It has been a help that United have played 1 game a week all season keeping mainly the same team all season but what more do you want Carrick to do? I’d be shocked if United didn’t give him the job in the summer but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see after the season ends.
Is Champions League football mathematically secured for United? Not quite as United currently sit 11 points clear of Brighton in 6th with 4 games to go which means that United would need to lose their last four games and Brighton would need to win their last four for United to drop out of the top 5, it isn’t going to happen but we aren’t there quite yet unfortunately. For Brentford they remain in 9th place on 48 points along with Fulham and Chelsea who are on the same points, they are one point from Bournemouth and two points from Brighton which shows how congested it is in that middle part of the table, even a Conference League spot would be brilliant for Brentford who would be playing in Europe for the first time in their history if they could finish in the top 7/8. They’ll need a big end to the season as all the other teams will if they want to play in Europe next season, can Keith Andrews get Brentford into Europe for the first time?