{"id":638019,"date":"2024-03-31T07:02:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T11:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=638019"},"modified":"2024-03-31T07:02:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T11:02:47","slug":"manchester-united-key-takeaways-brentford-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/03\/31\/manchester-united-key-takeaways-brentford-draw\/","title":{"rendered":"Brentford 1-1 Manchester United: Key Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Manchester United showed little signs of the progress made since the turn of the year with an insipid and uninspiring 1-1 draw against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, with the Red Devils perhaps counting themselves lucky to have even collected a point. Here are the Manchester United key takeaways from a limp performance from Erik ten Hag&#8217;s men.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Manchester United Key Takeaways From A Dreadful Performance In West London<\/span><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A night to forget but a memorable moment for Mason \u2764\ufe0f<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MUFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MUFC<\/a> || <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BREMUN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BREMUN<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/12KNIRHhgi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/12KNIRHhgi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Manchester United (@ManUtd) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ManUtd\/status\/1774198389451665529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Red Devils Are Still Too Easy To Play Through<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Whilst the team has made improvements since Christmas, Brentford exposed the weakness of the press in the first half, playing out and through Manchester United and into wide-open spaces in midfield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/03\/28\/manchester-united-arsenal-chelsea-target-ivan-toney\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u2018Experienced Or Young\u2019: Fabrizio Romano Reports Man Utd Keeping Tabs On Arsenal And Chelsea Target<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This has been a common theme for Ten Hag&#8217;s side this season and needs to be addressed, if they aspire to finish in the top four.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Marcus Rashford&#8217;s Crisis of Confidence<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Marcus Rashford once again showed signs of a lack of confidence. Presented with opportunities to drive forward into the heart of the Brentford defence in the first half, the Englishman often preferred to play backwards, betraying a lack of self-confidence that seems to have lasted throughout the season so far.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Victor Lindelof Is Better At Centre-Back, But Still Weak<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After looking suspect whilst deputising for the injured Luke Shaw at left-back in recent games, Victor Lindelof returned to his favoured role at centre-back. Whilst the Swede looked decidedly more comfortable, he was still left exposed by Brentford&#8217;s aerial threat and is often the weak link against physically strong opponents.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A Manchester United Without Inspiration Or Invention<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Red Devils looked lost going forward and shaky at the back, with players such as Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, and Rasmus Hojlund reduced to potshots from distance, creating very few clear chances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/03\/24\/erik-ten-hag-manchester-united-future\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Erik Ten Hag: Insights From A Turbulent Season At Manchester United As Immediate Future Clarified<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At the back and in midfield, Ten Hag&#8217;s men failed to establish any semblance of control of proceedings and looked befuddled against Brentford&#8217;s direct and incisive wave of attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Diogo Dalot Impresses Again<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Portuguese right-back Diogo Dalot has been a\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4873735\/2024\/02\/18\/dalot-wan-bissaka-united-right-back\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">player transformed<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0this season, making a name for himself as one of the league&#8217;s best right-backs. Once again, he was one of the few positives from a frankly dreadful Manchester United display. Combative in duels and always offering an attacking outlet, he is the frontrunner for Player Of The Season at Old Trafford.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mason Mount a Big Plus in Midfield<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After a long injury layoff, the return of Mason Mount offers Ten Hag&#8217;s side more depth and energy in the middle of the park. The Englishman took his goal fantastically well and brought a much-needed spark to proceedings. It would have been an undeserved winner had the team held out &#8211; but a fantastic boost for a player unlucky in his first season in Manchester.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Manchester United Key Takeaways: We&#8217;ll Put It Down To Post-International Break Rust<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It&#8217;s the only plausible reason for such a disjointed performance. It cannot be argued that Brentford didn&#8217;t deserve the victory, and the Red Devils came away from West London with a thoroughly undeserved point. There is much work to be done before another trip to the capital on Thursday, as United travel to Chelsea hoping for a much-improved performance to put their season and Champions League hopes back on track.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester United showed little signs of the progress made since the turn of the year with an insipid and uninspiring 1-1 draw against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, with the Red Devils perhaps counting themselves lucky to have even collected a point. Here are the Manchester United key takeaways from a limp performance from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5004,"featured_media":637242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,8684,3],"tags":[4315,31769,253,2915],"class_list":["post-638019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-brentford","category-premier-league","tag-erik-ten-hag","tag-key-takeaways","tag-marcus-rashford","tag-mason-mount"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}