Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said he could have substituted the entire first team player should he be given the opportunity.
Ten Hag said this after Brentford thrashed Manchester United 4-0 in Gtech Community Stadium.
After the kickoff, Brentford ran down Manchester United without restrictions to net four unresponded goals in 35 minutes, compounding the Red Devils’ woes having lost their opening match at Old Trafford against Brighton.
Josh Dasilva broke the deadlock in the first ten minutes to hand the Bees an early lead before Mathias Jensen doubled the margin eight minutes later.
Despite the double, Thomas Frank’s side never retracted as they sustained the tempo to shred Manchester United into bits.
Resultantly, Brentford striker Ivan Tenney, though was unable to get a goal, provided two assists that resulted in Ben Mee’s and Bryan Mbeumo’s goals to hand the home team a four-goal lead before the first half ended.
Reacting to the first half humiliating performances, Ten Hag made three changes, two defenders with a midfielder, which saw Raphael Varane substituting Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia for Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay for Fred.
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“I changed three, but I could have changed them all. We wanted to bring some fresh energy in the game, there was nothing specific to the ones we subbed because I don’t think it’s all to them,” Ten Hag fumed.
Disappointed with their Premier League performances on Saturday, Manchester United boss said that the players were naive on the pitch adding that they failed to execute their game strategy against Brentford.
“It’s naive how we played today, you have to play more direct. We said: invite them in [to press] and play long,” United boss explained.
“We attracted them, the space was high on the pitch and we had to choose that option. That’s what we couldn’t do. It’s no good, definitely. That’s not the standard on how we want to act.
“You can have a plan, but we put the plan in the bin. It’s nothing to do with tactical – the first two goals. It’s about dealing with the ball. That’s one, and two decisions,” Ten Hag added.
The United boss, however, noted that the team followed instructions but executed bad decisions during the match.
“They followed my instructions but they made bad decisions. That’s football, it’s a game of mistakes and we got punished,” he lamented.
Manchester United’s next match is against Liverpool at Old Trafford where they hope to seek their first win on Monday, August 22.
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