Erik ten Hag criticised his players’ lack of aggression as Manchester United scraped a 1-1 draw at Brentford, but seemed unconcerned by the number of shots his side continue to concede.
United struggled all game but took the lead through Mason Mount after 96 minutes, before Brentford’s 31st shot of the game finally beat André Onana for a 99th-minute equaliser. “We didn’t deserve to win,” Ten Hag said, “but if you’re winning you have to take this. I would say normally we are very good in these circumstances.
“We showed resilience all through the game but in points of aggressiveness Brentford were better. We should show more passion and desire at many moments in the game. When you don’t play well you still have to win and we did it almost – that is my big disappointment that we didn’t bring it over the line. There was spirit and there was fight but not enough.”
Many, though, would ask why United find themselves in such circumstances so often. They have conceded 254 shots in their past 12 games, but Ten Hag insisted that does not bother him. “As long as we get results, no,” he said. “We defended low at times and because Brentford are very direct, we lost many second balls. You have to defend the box and that is what we did quite well. The goalkeeper was brilliant – we have to say that. Our results are quite consistent from January on: we concede shots but we don’t concede goals.”
United trail Tottenham by eight points and Aston Villa, who have played a game more, by 11, but Ten Hag insisted the hunt for Champions League football is not yet over. “There are still many games to go,” he said. “It could be a big point by the end of the season.”
Thomas Frank described Brentford’s performance as their best of the season. “The way we dominated the game throughout in terms of shots and dangerous situations was very, very impressive,” he said. “We were playing against a more or less full-strength United team without our entire backline and that just makes it even more impressive.”
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He praised the “incredible mentality and character from the players” to find an equaliser after going behind so late having been so dominant, but admitted they should have taken all three points. “31 shots?” he asked. “How we’re not winning that game I don’t know. I was almost losing my faith in the big football god when they scored.”