Just as the journalists were prepared to write about United’s win, an almost perfect second half, and goals from ’forgotten’ strikers Greenwood and Rashford, Ronaldo made sure he would still be the main topic of the match. The Portuguese has missed two of United’s last games due to injury, and after 70 minutes and a 2-0 lead, Ralf Rangnick decided to rest his star and introduce Maguire and Rashford. Ronaldo was unhappy (again), sat on the stairs, and moaned to the German, who finally had to come down and talk to him, right in the middle of the game.
Apart from the attention-hungry Ronaldo, it was a dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performance from United, who were nearly 3-0 down in the first half, but easily made it 3-1 after the second 45 minutes. De Gea was the man of the match at the beginning, as he saved two one-on-one situations, and the Red Devils were lucky it was the wrong Brentford player who had those chances, otherwise, we would be writing about another Manchester defeat. On the other hand, this was Brentford’s third straight defeat, and the Bees allowed 10 goals in those matches. Some players were injured, some are on AFCON, but still, in the second half of the season, clubs are better prepared for the Premier League’s most surprising team.A landmark victory ✅United become the first side to reach 300 #PL away wins 👏#MUFC pic.twitter.com/izMRZsUehO— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 19, 2022 It was expected that United would have more possession in the first half and indeed, the guests had the ball for almost 70% of the time. The result? 0 shots on target. In fact, the only meaningful chance for United was in the 25th minute, when Dalot had a good volley, but the ball went just near the bar. Everything else was just Brentford. The hosts had three excellent chances but De Gea saved them all. To be fair, the Spaniard reacted well in all of them, but actually, it was Brentford’s Jensen, a midfielder with 1 assist and no goals in 15 games this season, who didn’t know how to score. Two times Manchester’s defense left him one on one with De Gea, and twice the Dane didn’t shoot well.The punishment came in a form of two quick counter-attacks, one in the 55th and the second in the 62nd minute. It was a reminder of United’s last year’s tactics when they used their pace to punish teams who went on to attack them. Anthony Elanga, United’s academy player, a Swede with Cameroonian roots scored his first professional goal, after an untypical Brentford’s defense mistake, but only after Fred made a superb assist. And the second goal was also a counter-attack, which started when McTominay took the ball and passed it to Ronaldo at the center, who made a superb chest pass to Fernandes. United’s number 10 ran at Brentford’s goal and passed the ball to Greenwood, who finished with ease: 0-2. But it was not over. In fact, United scored a third goal, something which he haven’t seen so often this season, and didn’t expect against an opponent like Brentford, but it did happen. It all started with McTominay (again), who took the ball and passed it to Fernandes. The Portuguese played it for Rahsford, who steered the ball past Lossl and into the roof of the net. Brentford scored a consolation goal, after a typical Manchester mistake, but it was too little too late.ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUELEICESTER – TOTTENHAM 2-3 (1-1)/Daka 24, Maddison 76 – Kane 38, Bergwijn 90+5, 90+7/BRENTFORD – MAN UTD 1-3 (0-0)/Elanga 55, Greenwood 62, Rasford 77 – Toney 85/