Erik ten Hag said he could have taken off all of his “naïve” players at half-time after a catalogue of errors put them 4-0 down at the interval against Brentford.
In an astonishing first half in some intense west London heat, Manchester United put in one of their worst performances in 30 years of playing in the Premier League – with Ten Hag’s mistake-laden side doing their new manager no favours.
Goalkeeper David de Gea let Josh Dasilva’s simple shot crawl under his body at the near post after 10 minutes before the goalkeeper’s pass put former Brentford player Christian Eriksen in trouble, with Mathias Jensen gaining possession in the penalty area for a simple finish (18).
The Bees managed to double that advantage before half-time, with Ben Mee leaping over Lisandro Martinez to head home on his home debut (30) before Ivan Toney fed Bryan Mbuemo to finish off a blistering counter-attack for their fourth after just 35 minutes.
Cristiano Ronaldo – recalled to the starting line-up – wasted three chances in a result that leaves Ten Hag’s side bottom of the Premier League with zero points, with Liverpool their next opponents at Old Trafford in nine days’ time on Monday Night Football.
When asked about his triple substitution at half-time, which saw him take off defenders Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw alongside Fred, Ten Hag said: “I changed three, but I could have changed them all. We wanted to bring some fresh energy in the game, there was nothing specific to the ones we subbed because I don’t think it’s all to them.”
“It’s naive, how we played today, you have to play more direct. We said: invite them in [to press] and play long. We attracted them, the space was high on the pitch and we had to choose that option. That’s what we couldn’t do. It’s no good, definitely. That’s not the standard on how we want to act.
“You can have a plan, but we put the plan in the bin. It’s nothing to do with tactical – the first two goals. It’s about dealing with the ball. That’s one. And two, decisions.
“They followed my instructions but they made bad decisions. That’s football, it’s a game of mistakes and we got punished.”
