In what has already been an incredible last 12 months for Brentford, the 4-0 mauling of Manchester United at the weekend may have topped anything that had gone before…
Forget Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, West Ham United – Brentford’s performance, particularly in the opening 45 minutes, completely outclassed, outfought and outsmarted Erik Ten Hag’s wildly unstable United side.
For Thomas Frank’s side, it was revenge after a hugely unlucky game against Manchester United back in January where they were ultimately made to pay for a first-half of missed opportunities.
History wasn’t to repeat itself this time though, ruthlessly taking their chances to kill the game off with four goals inside the first 35 minutes – underlining just how far Brentford have come in just six months and how much United have regressed.
All the talk pre-match was of Christian Eriksen’s return to TW8 after leaving in the summer but within ten minutes he was quickly forgotten as David De Gea’s calamitous mistake allowed Josh Dasilva to break the deadlock.
Eriksen’s every touch brought boos from the home crowd and the Dane appeared very much lost in the dysfunctional chaos of a lone six role with little support from first Fred and then Scott McTominay
The 30-year-old would then see his day go from bad to worse when Danish counterpart Mathias Jensen hunted him down following a short pass from De Gea, dispossessing him in the six-yard-box to make it 2-0.
As one who predominantly played as an understudy to Eriksen last season and is much-maligned at times, the fact it was Jensen who not only scored but put in a player-of-the-match performance felt even sweeter.
Both Ten Hag and Thomas Frank may have similar tactical approaches focused on high-intensity pressing, but it was the latter’s smart ploy in man-marking and pressing from the front that left Manchester United bothered, bewitched and bewildered in the West London heat.
While De Gea continued to struggle to play out from the back due to Brentford’s approach, fellow Spanish goalkeeper David Raya continually showcased his ever impressive ball playing ability.
Despite temperatures rising to 33 degrees, Brentford ran 13.9 km more than their visitors – in short, they wanted it more.
Although United looked like strangers who had met only thirty minutes before the game, this was very much about Brentford having a clear identity and game plan and then sticking to it – producing a performance that United can only hope to aim to achieve at the moment.
Even Brentford’s game management in the second-half was impressive, with the smart ploy by Frank opting to initiate a low block which produced a well deserved clean sheet to complement the spectacular attacking artillery on show.
Forwards Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo rang rings around Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire and it was fitting the duo linked up for the final goal after Toney had already provided a towering header over Eriksen to assist Ben Mee for the third.
It was a commanding performance from a starting XI that cost just £55m in comparison to United’s £424m and achieved without a number of key players – centre-backs Ethan Pinnock and Kris Ajer both injured, new signings Keane Lewis-Potter on the bench and Mikkel Damsgaard out.
The result further underlines just how much squad depth there is at Brentford after a summer of astute signings with the club rightly looking up after this result.
As far as the rest of the footballing world is concerned, it was all about Eriksen’s return with the Bees ultimately showing that they can not only live without the Dane but reducing his return to a mere footnote on a day that belonged solely to Brentford.