[Dominos]

We needed to shut the midfield down as Brentford got too much space and time there.

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

 

[BarryWinks]

Cloggers you say...

Yes, like Baleba, Tchouameni, Andersen.

Players who do their best work off of the ball than on it. As usual our fanbase will cream itself over these players only to act ignorant when we sign them and they can’t pass it beyond 5 yards with any accuracy or guile. Made the same observations about Ugarte here and was labelled ignorant even by Colombian posters.

Just you watch.

 

[r3idy]

Successive managers have not been able to coach the brain farts out of Dalot, so ill give Carrick some slack.

Never going to control the game when you got a team exploiting your weakest links in Dalot and Shaw.

Positives

3 Points
Casemeiro
Mainoo

Negatives

Mbeumo and Amad out of form
Fullbacks just not upto it, will prob carry us over the line for Champions league football, but we need some upgrades on both sides

 

[Banana Republic]

An excellent result, but an absolutely shite performance after the first 20 mins.
Individually, Mainoo and Casemiro were excellent, but as a pairing they were weak.
Brentford dominated our CM for all except that first 20 mins and the first half of the second half, when we were just trying to stifle the game.

We’ve been riding our luck far too often lately, but thankfully the points are in the bank.

 

[AbstruseAlan]

Our forwards are massively underperforming as of late. Mbeumo and Amad haven't looked great in forever it seems. Sesko was meh also. Cunha is a big miss, hopefully he's back for Liverpool the weekend. As much as we're praising Mainoo/Casemiro etc, Lammens again under the radar, so important for us because Brentford should have literally had at least 3 this match which is worrying. We need to outscore teams it seems and with a forward line that looks out of form, it's going to be tough.

Thankfully it's nearly the end of the season but it is worrying especially since we can't really blame fatigue given our lack of fixtures etc.

 

[Northstand]

Great win against a good Brentford side.

We are not a great team, not sure why the caf is having a meltdown about Carrick trying to protect a two goal lead. Mentalists.

Totally agree. Said at half time the way it’s going we’ll need to score again to win this. Carrick’s change seriously stunted Brentford’s threat…no idea why that’s brought about so much criticism on here.

 

[BarryWinks]

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

It’s crazy!

Someone said we were ‘in control’ of that second half.

Standards are in the fecking ground.

 

[acnumber9]

I’ve no idea how Igor Thiago has managed to score any goals this season because he is an absolute donkey. Whoever bites on that transfer will be wasting a lot of money.

 

[Chairman Steve]

Between the Casemiro goal and half time, was batshit and a genuine mess. At least a formation change allievated it somewhat, but still not convincing.

I will say that was the best I’ve seen Mainoo play in quite some time, with Casemiro and Lammens also great.

 

[SouthernRedDev]

Good result, 1st half, we gave far to many chances away so the change of formation and personnel second half worked very well, one worldie made it tense but overall a very good game.

 

[Dominos]

Totally disagree, game was far too open in the first half and we were pretty fortunate to be ahead. We had to change shape and gave them nothing in that second half. A wonder strike was the only way they were going to score.

We didn't give them nothing.

In all the years watching football how often have you seen us just decide to defend for a full half and let the game drift without any hope of scoring ourselves, and keep a clean sheet?

We always end up conceding when we try to do this anyway.

If we can't stop the mighty Brentford at Old Trafford without parking the bus in a back 5 and packing bodies in our own box, we're in real trouble.

 

[Withnail]

Yes, like Baleba, Tchouameni, Andersen.

Players who do their best work off of the ball than on it. As usual our fanbase will cream itself over these players only to act ignorant when we sign them and they can’t pass it beyond 5 yards with any accuracy or guile. Made the same observations about Ugarte here and was labelled ignorant even by Colombian posters.

Just you watch.

Tchouameni is the new Ugarte.

Whatever point you may have had is completely fecked with that

 

[George The Best]

High intensity start, much like against City & Arsenal, but just couldn’t seem to keep it going. Very nervous at 2-0, really thought we were going to blow it

 

[ExistingNow]

They are well coached, I expect their manager to move on to better things.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Great win. At this stage of the season, results are the only thing that matters. We're pretty much guaranteed Champions League football now. Bob's your uncle.

 

[Bwuk]

struggling to understand the praise for Casemiro & Mainoo. We got over ran for the majority of the game.

Thought the back 5 switch was bizarre too.

 

[Red & White]

Very good win. Second half wasn’t pretty but we’ll take that result all day long. As others have said, Lammens, Mainoo, Casemiro, and Bruno were all excellent tonight. The 3 CB’s did well, too.

 

[goldenboy]

True but we rod our luck seriously with the number of balls they were putting in.

United would have struggled even more with those balls in to the box had they not had the extra defender in there - the first half showed that when Brentford both got more balls in to the box, and got on the end of them on even more occasions.

 

[TheReligion]

Happy for the win but almost more worried than happy. Didn’t look good at all.

We don’t have a full time manager and have had a disaster of a season. Just about getting over the line at this point.

Not sure why some of you are expecting prime Brazil.

 

[The Irish Connection]

How do we keep getting results after such poor performances?!
Obviously will take it, but a bit worried about the Liverpool game.
Lammens, Maguire, Casemiro, Mainoo and Bruno were good though.

We will definitely need another good attacker in the transfer window on top of the midfielders.

Hope we hang on to 3rd.

 

[Irwin99]

struggling to understand the praise for Casemiro & Mainoo. We got over ran for the majority of the game.

Thought the back 5 switch was bizarre too.

That’s by design though, the plan isn’t for the midfield to get on the ball and spray passes. Casemiro was absolutely immense at his job tonight, easy MotM - put him in a more expansive team though and I think he’d struggle.

we also have no one pressing up front whatsoever and no one forcing errors. The set up is very much geared towards Bruno hitting teams on the break and runners in behind (Mbuemo had a bit of a bad day again sadly)

 

[TheReligion]

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

Erm Yes?

At this point in a season when we don’t have a full time manager it’s about the results.

What planet are some of you on.

We have a caretaker manager and a cobbled together coaching staff who came in a few months ago following a disastrous season.

 

[siw2007]

Hard fought victory tonight on a Monday night. We played some excellent football at times tonight, but we really struggled defensively for long periods. In the first half I thought we lacked a bit of discipline and concentration at times and they exploited us and we were lucky not to concede. There was a bit of a patch work of a team in the 2nd half which meant we couldn’t play to a good level so Brentford were able to hurt us.

 

[Dominos]

Erm Yes?

At this point in a season when we don’t have a full time manager it’s about the results.

What planet are some of you on.

We have a caretaker manager and a cobbled together coaching staff who came in a few months ago following a disastrous season.

It doesn't mean we can't question whether the decisions made are optimal. Particularly when the manager is looking like he'll be made permanent.

We lost the 2nd half after the changes, I'm not pretending that makes the change a good one.

 

[TheReligion]

It doesn't mean we can't question whether the decisions made are optimal. Particularly when the manager is looking like he'll be made permanent.

We lost the 2nd half after the changes, I'm not pretending that makes the change a good one.

The manager has not been made permanent.

 

[IamBaz84]

Feeling rather indifferent about that match. Very good in patches, but spent far too long being second best, however it's the result that counts.

How Thiago didn't score at least two i'll never know, Brentford should have been out of sight by half time and that may happen if this kind of perfornace happens in the first half on the weekend.

Having roughly 10% less possesion at home to Brentford says it all about the overall direction of the game too, we just weren't at it for large patches of the game again, and i'm wondering how many players are already on their summer break or pre-world cup break?

On the brightside of things Mainoo did a good job overall, Bruno got his assist and Heaven had another decent outing. Two points needed to secure a top 5 finish, so hopefully that will be done and dusted by the end of the weekend, then we can see some fresher faces in the squad and getting some minutes.

 

[KStandBarmyArmy1993]

People do realise we won tonight don't they?

 

[RU Devil]

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

Our forward flank players don't provide much shielding for the back 4. If the press isn't on, they tend to tuck inside more than provide defend out wide. A team like Brentford probes with their wingers & fullbacks.

I wish Carrick had withdrawn Mbeumo instead of Amad, but that's a 50/50 choice. Maybe he is trying to get Mbeumo on track but....

Generally good with this game. Thought it would be a tricky game, and it was. Could have easily been down 3 by half but lucked out.

 

[SteveCoppellFan]

The sheer constant inability of most of our players to actually keep possession is staggering.

It's like we are incapable of controlling a game of football.

Champions League football is massive, as long as it paves the way to us getting some much needed quality in a few areas.

 

[Tincanalley]

Good win and imo a mostly decent performance against a strong side. Kept it tight in the second half (bar a great Brentford goal) very pleased to see Sesko starting and scoring.

You make a key point. Sesko scoring is huge.

 

[Ceteris]

Worrying signs that our 2 midfielders had great games but still had no control of the middle of the park

Happy for the win

 

[RedEarth]

Christ Almighty.. Another one of them How da fuk are we third? wins.

Second best... and comfortably so... in every metric of football except for the only two important ones. Goals Scored v Goals Conceded.

 

[Marwood]

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

Haven't you just contradicted yourself there.

You've judged the 2nd half on it's result.


We were clearly more solid in the second half and had to be. A goal from 25 yards with 5 mins to go doesn't change that.

 

[onemanarmy]

Fun game. Mainoo was brilliant in the first half. Lammens very reassuring.

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

Why does this matter? We had a two-goal cushion and played as such.

As people rightly point out, the first half was not a comfortable showing from us and we were honestly very lucky to have that two-goal cushion to begin with. However, given that we did get it, we absolutely could not have come out and played like we did in the first-half again in the second - if we had we might well have conceded more than just a long-range worldie in the last ten minutes of the game.

I think Carrick made a sensible change that got its desired effect. We went from conceding a tonne of chances in the first-half to very few in the second, which is exactly what we needed given that we were two goals up at half-time.

 

[Hammondo]

struggling to understand the praise for Casemiro & Mainoo. We got over ran for the majority of the game.

Thought the back 5 switch was bizarre too.

Same every game.

 

[The Irish Connection]

struggling to understand the praise for Casemiro & Mainoo. We got over ran for the majority of the game.

Thought the back 5 switch was bizarre too.

We did get over ran but Casemiro was good aerially and made loads of good tackles. Mainoo was good on the ball but a bit slow in covering space in defensive transition.

 

[Dominos]

Haven't you just contradicted yourself there.

You've judged the 2nd half on it's result.


We were clearly more solid in the second half and had to be. A goal from 25 yards with 5 mins to go doesn't change that.

No I watched the 2nd half and we gave up any chance of scoring and just waited for Brentford to eventually score as we defend our own box for the entire half.

 

[GaryLifo]

Anxiety cafe never let's you down.

If we don't win 5-0 then it was a shit performance.

The Leeds game was a shit performance. The last two were good battling wins that have all but secured us CL football.

It doesn't have to be pretty or sustainable, Carrick was brought in to get results fast and he's got them. Players are playing for him and each other and that'll do just fine for now.

 

[DSG]

Why are we incapable of defending in a back 4?

Is changing to a negative shape almost guaranteeing we'd score no more goals and Brentford almost guaranteed to score as we defend our penalty box for a full half really beneficial?

We lost the 2nd half 1-0 after the genius change.

People are so results oriented.

Really disagree with this. The issue was getting out of our half while defending in the first half. It was very clear the Brentford was committing 6 while pressing up high. Adding a CB and going to a 3-4-3 means you have ample options when playing out of the back, 6v7. The issue is it leaves Bruno isolated as a winger. Ultimately, it’s the right call as it limits the number of chances from turnovers in the build up. They hit a very impressive strike from distance to pull one back, but compared to the first half, the chances were very limited.

Not trying to be an asshole here, but understanding the tactical changes is imperative to how Carrick managed this match. He knew Brentford would commit men forward and placed Bruno in a position where he could spring transition goals or set pieces in the first half. This came at the expense of giving up chances. In the second half, up 2-0, he consolidated, going to a back 3, creating a 7v6 situation and allowing triangles and 3v2s to further control.

Their only goal was a great strike from 23 yards. I see this as a vindication of Carrick rather than an example of his tactical naivety.