Eric ten Haig’s poor start as Manchester United manager came in embarrassment as the Red Devils of the Premier League went down in a 4-0 thrashing by Brentford on Saturday. The former Ajax boss’s reign began last weekend with Brighton’s first win at Old Trafford, but it turned out to be even worse as Beez penalized a series of errors for scoring four times in the first 35 minutes. Josh DeSilva’s strike slipped through David de Gea’s fist before Mathias Jensen pounced on United’s attempt to make it 2-0 inside 18 minutes of play from behind.
Ben Mee then exposed the visitors’ weaknesses with a set-piece for his first Brentford goal, and Brian Mbumo struck a surprise counter-attack 10 minutes before half-time to lower United to the bottom of the table for the first time in 30 years .
Jubilant Home Support taunted Ten Hugs with chants of “You’re getting fired in the morning.”
But the Dutch coach seems to have inherited a riot rather than the root cause as United lost their seventh consecutive league match for the first time since 1936.
That run included scoring four goals at Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton last season.
The arrival of 57-million-pound ($69m) centre-back Lysandro Martinez from Ajax has done little to shore up United’s weak defense and questions will be asked if Ten Haag will bench Rafael Varane in the Argentine and out-of-favour. But why did you leave? -Of-Sorts Harry Maguire.
Ten Haag missed Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting line-up, but the five-time Ballon d’Or winner played a part in the opening goal.
Being surrounded by Brentford bodies, Ronaldo very easily took to the field in search of fouls. DeSilva’s shot should still have been a comfortable save for de Gea, but the ball went down the Spaniard.
De Gea combined that mistake with an attempt to pass Christian Eriksson eight minutes later, who was knocked out by his former teammate Jensen, and the Dane pacified home to double Brentford’s lead.
Martinez’s short 5ft 9in (1.8m) frame was raised as a red flag for his ability to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League.
And for the third goal Argentina was beaten by Mee at the back post when Ivan Toni led a corner across the goal.
Credit to Brentford in his second season in the English top-flight for 75 years could be swept by waves of criticism coming his way to United.
But Thomas Frank’s men made a surprise move to re-open United for their fourth goal.
Tony was dropped under the left wing and picked up Mbuemo with a precise first-time pass for the Frenchman to race past Luke Shaw and finish low past De Gea.
Ten Haig clarified his feelings at the break with triple replacements with Shaw, Martinez and Fred the scapegoat.
United at least stopped bleeding after the break and should have been at least a consolation as Ronaldo looped a header before Ericsson’s header lacked the power to beat David Raya.
The damage, however, was long over for Ten Hag and worse could still be to come.
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United host Liverpool, who beat their historic rivals 5–0 and 4–0 in the previous season, in their next match on 22 August.
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