Brentford 4-0 Man Utd: Player ratings as Bees embarrass Red Devils
By Sean Walsh
From Gtech Community Stadium - Manchester United's horrendous start to life under Erik ten Hag continued with an unforgivable 4-0 loss at Brentford.
Thomas Frank's side were superior to the Red Devils in every area and were every bit deserving of this huge win - the club's first in this fixture since 1938 - while United will return to the north with their tails between their legs after another abysmal display and are now rooted to the foot of the Premier League table.
Brentford took the lead after ten minutes when they won the ball back off Cristiano Ronaldo in his own half and Josh Dasilva let fly with his weaker right foot, with his trickling strike spilled into his own net by David de Gea.
Bruno Fernandes skied a half-decent opening at the other end almost immediately after being teed up by Jadon Sancho, while Harry Maguire was spared his marching orders after bringing down Ivan Toney on the edge of the penalty area following a sloppy pass from former Bee Christian Eriksen - Mathias Jensen's resulting free-kick was just a little too high.
But from that resulting goal kick, Brentford found their second after pressing Eriksen into another error, with Jensen sending De Gea the wrong way from point-blank range.
The Bees added their third from a corner on the half-hour mark when Ivan Toney headed a corner back across goal and Ben Mee was on hand to scramble it over the line, compounding a woeful 30 minutes from United.
Believe it or not, Brentford added their fourth just moments after on the counter. Jensen managed to swivel out of trouble and set Toney racing away, and he picked out Bryan Mbeumo to slot past De Gea.
Ten Hag made three changes at the break to try and steady the ship, but nearly conceded a fifth when Aaron Hickey fired at De Gea's near post, only for the Spaniard to deny him.
At the other end, Ronaldo floated a couple of headers over, while Eriksen forced David Raya into a stretching save with a delicate header of his own.
The Dane fired wide late on, much to the jubilation of the fans who used to cheer him, and United again nearly conceded a fifth following a corner at the near post, this time Vitaly Janelt going close.
Stuart Atwell eventually put United out of their misery after four minutes of stoppage time to bring one of their most infamous days to a close.
Brentford vs Manchester United player ratings
1. Brentford (3-5-2)
GK: David Raya - 7/10 - His kicking was exemplary, his shot-stopping on point and he swept up well - the complete inverse of De Gea.
CB: Mads Roerslev - 7/10 - Very comfortable afternoon for the natural wing-back.
CB: Pontus Jansson - 8/10 - Completely shut down Ronaldo with relative ease.
CB: Ben Mee - 9/10 - A goal and clean sheet on his home debut. Snuffed out danger excellently.
RWB: Aaron Hickey - 7/10 - In constant communication with Roerslev and it paid off, both were assured of themselves.
CM: Mathias Jensen - 9/10 - So often hailed as Eriksen-lite, Jensen stepped up in the spotlight and made his compatriot's life hell.
CM: Christian Norgaard - 9/10 - Recovered possession and recycled it as reliably as ever. The exact sort of player that, ironically, United need.
CM: Josh Dasilva - 9/10 - A bit of fortune about the goal but he ran the show in his 61 minutes on the pitch, ghosting through United's midfield so easily.
LWB: Rico Henry - 8/10 - His England credentials continue to strengthen, especially with Shaw putting in such a horrendous performance on the same pitch.
CF: Bryan Mbeumo - 9/10 - United were quaking in their boots whenever the Cameroonian forward was in possession.
CF: Ivan Toney - 9/10 - Bullied a weak backline as was expected of him in the lead-up to this fixture. Expect a snarky tweet about it later.
SUB: Vitaly Janelt (61' for Dasilva) - 6/10
SUB: Yoane Wissa (73' for Mbeumo) - 6/10
SUB: Shandon Baptiste (73' for Jensen) - 6/10
SUB: Mads Bech Sorensen (80' for Hickey) - N/A
SUB: Frank Onyeka (80' for Norgaard) - N/A
Manager: Thomas Frank - 10/10 - Got his tactics spot on - he knew how United would play and how best to exploit them.
2. Manchester United (4-2-3-1)
GK: David de Gea - 1/10 - Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Luis Enrique's decision to prefer Raya in the Spain squad has been vindicated.
RB: Diogo Dalot - 3/10 - Not the worst offender but that's not saying much.
CB: Harry Maguire - 2/10 - Slow, lumbering, ponderous, weak. The captain of Manchester United.
CB: Lisandro Martinez - 1/10 - Turns out the memes of Martinez being too short a centre-back to play in the Premier League were accurate. Way out of his depth.
LB: Luke Shaw - 2/10 - Roasted continually by Hickey and Mbeumo. Hooked at the break.
CM: Christian Eriksen - 2/10 - His return to west London was somehow even worse than the conceivable worst-case scenario. Brentford pressed him into mistakes and made Ten Hag's decision to play him as a six look silly.
CM: Fred - 2/10 - Ran around aimlessly and failed to keep control of the ball. Hauled off first for the second week running.
RM: Jadon Sancho - 2/10 - On a completely different wavelength to his teammates.
AM: Bruno Fernandes - 3/10 - Similarly out of sync. Attempted some shots, none of them any good.
LM: Marcus Rashford - 3/10 - Dribbled down dead ends and fired shots straight into defenders. You surprise me, Rashford.
CF: Cristiano Ronaldo - 3/10 - Isolated, off the pace and actually at fault for a goal. A dreadful return to the lineup.
SUB: Raphael Varane (46' for Martinez) - 5/10 - United looked a bit better after his introduction at the back.
SUB: Tyrell Malacia (46' for Shaw) - 4/10 - Looked a bit lost at times and was lucky that Brentford took their foot off the accelerator.
SUB: Scott McTominay (46' for Fred) - 4/10 - Not totally horrendous but was notably caught out on one occasion.
SUB: Anthony Elanga (60' for Sancho) - 4/10
SUB: Donny van de Beek (87' for Eriksen) - N/A
Manager: Erik ten Hag - 1/10 - First United manager to lose his opening two games since 1921 and just the third in their history to do so. He picked the team and the way they would play and he has to shoulder that responsibility, even if it's not all his own fault.