This swashbuckling victory moved Manchester United to within two points of Champions League qualification and is prima facie evidence of the job Michael Carrick has executed since his appointment as interim manager.
The performance is also a fair calling card for the permanent role as United bettered a doughty Brentford by simply being better.
Kobbie Mainoo was smooth in midfield, Casemiro scored again and Bruno Fernandes’s assist for Benjamin Sesko’s clincher was his 19th in the Premier League this season. Even if he does not equal or best the record of 20, Fernandes must be the favourite for player of the year.
Next is Liverpool here on Sunday, a trip the champions will hardly fancy because Carrick’s unit is clicking precisely when it needs to – further testament to the 44-year-old’s abilities.
If the last four games go to plan United will finish third, their highest finish for three seasons, a position that should attract the calibre of players to further improve the squad.
Brentford arrived as the draw specialists, doing so in five of the six-game unbeaten run they kicked off seeking to extend. Yet in United – and Mainoo particularly – they encountered hosts who began in aggressive mode.
Collecting inside Brentford’s half the midfielder scattered defenders and served the ball up to Amad Diallo, who was a few yards from goal. The Ivorian surely could not miss, but he did, the shot hitting Sepp van den Berg and rebounding for the first of two corners.
Here was an urgency not always present in United under Carrick. It continued as Harry Maguire’s header was cleared off the line and Bryan Mbeumo burst along the right and won another corner. From this, Casemiro scored.
In what seemed a training ground move, Fernandes’s delivery from the right was swung deep to Maguire. As he leaped, Casemiro darted to the back post. The defender headed across and up went the Brazilian to outjump Dango Ouattara and nod home.
It was Casemiro’s ninth league strike of his swansong campaign. Yet after a pronounced kiss of the badge United had to defend against a defiant away side who now dominated.
Keane Lewis-Potter found space and swept the ball over from the left: Luke Shaw missed the interception and Igor Thiago might have equalised, but failed to connect. Then Michael Kayode’s swivel and shot drew a corner.
United were unable to transfer play to the other end as Brentford showed why they were so long without defeat, an equal partner in a bright, open spectacle.
Nathan Collins surged down the middle, but Brentford’s captain was dispossessed by Fernandes, who took over and launched a similar run and had Sesko, Diallo and Mbeumo line up to receive.
The Portuguese missed with his pass, as did Thiago when clean through. The man with 21 league goals dawdled, Ayden Heaven and Senne Lammens moved to intervene and the ball was clutched by the goalkeeper.
Brentford pressed on. Thiago was again put in and a Heaven stab would have been an own goal, but for Lammens’s reflexes. Heaven once more was saved when an inadvertent elbow went for a corner only.
Mikkel Damsgaard’s effort was blocked after a melee before a riveting half had its second goal. It was United’s. After having a goal ruled out for offside, Diallo made a crucial challenge near his area. The ball rolled to Fernandes, who charged forward, with Mbeumo to his right and Sesko the left. He chose the striker, whose feint took the ball on to his right boot and smashed in.
United began the second half in rosy mood and did not miss the injured Matheus Cunha, who nursed a sore hip flexor. In a tactical reshuffle Diallo was replaced by Noussair Mazraoui, who slotted in as one of three centre-backs in a five-man rearguard.
United pinged the ball back with a nonchalance and precision that oozed confidence. A slick sequence ended with a Shaw volley from range that he sent wide, but Fernandes applauded the ambition. From a Mbeumo corner Maguire’s header went close.
Where United were lethal, Brentford had been profligate. Thiago could rue enough openings for three or four goals, but his luck and range were out. So, too, his teammates; Lewis-Potter beating his man along the left, but could cross only weakly into Lammens’s gloves.
Brentford still knocked on United’s door – Maguire’s determination to keep them out caused an injury when Thiago barged him over, the veteran one of many in red performing near or at their best.
His bravery drew a Ouattara kick to the head when the forward flew at a rebound after his header came off the bar. Brentford fought on and Mathias Jensen’s 20-yard finish was a consolation at least.
Leave a Reply