Just as Manchester United were about to celebrate a heist that at any other stage of life would warrant a prison sentence, they were soon caught by the reality of their own incompetence. Even the gift of a 1-0 lead with two minutes to play is not safe in those slippery fingers.
But before we get to the wildest of finals, in which Mason put Mount United ahead on 96 minutes and Kristoffer Ajer leveled Brentford on 99 minutes, it is necessary to reflect on the greater madness that preceded it.
That’s the madness of a goalless draw. The sheer madness of United somehow finding themselves in this match when they had been embarrassed in so many ways apart from the things that really mattered.
To go by a measure as basic as the number of shots, Brentford won this match 30-10, not counting the players on either side of Mount and Ajer. Let’s contextualize these numbers a bit, because when Brentford beat United 4-0 in this match last season, the numbers were 15-13 in United’s favor. This match was twice as tough as that one.
If Brentford had scored six here it wouldn’t have been false accounting. Ivan Toney hit a post and had a goal disallowed for offside, as well as two more good chances. Bryan Mbbeumo hit the crossbar and the side netting. Yoane Wissa had several chances, as did Keane Lewis-Potter, and Andre Onana was a yellow blur of saves.
Kristoffer Ajer scored nine minutes into stoppage time to draw Brentford level at the death
Mason Mount appeared to score Man United’s injury-time winner moments earlier
But Man United’s joy soon turned to despair as they conceded a late equalizer in west London
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And yet somehow it almost ended in defeat for Brentford when Mount, so peripheral at United, was played flawlessly by Casemiro to seal the most unfathomable victory. Thomas Frank looked almost traumatized; Erik Ten Hag had somehow found a lottery ticket in the toilet.
But this is United. Of course it is. And so with a win they didn’t deserve at all, they made a mess of defending a high ball, Toney played in Ajer, and the team with the worst form in the league could suddenly reflect on two points lost instead of a. Insanity.
Just hours earlier, United had arrived with a bit of swagger and the confidence to win nine of their previous 12 games in all competitions. Most recently that meant an FA Cup win against Liverpool and, thinking that something good is quite rare these days, Ten Hag did not play with the XI.
In contrast, Frank made two changes to the team that was defeated at Burnley a fortnight ago, with Lewis-Potter and Yehor Yarmoliuk coming in for Frank Onyeka and the suspended Sergio Reguilon. For the sake of fond memories, Brentford also had Ivan Toney, Mads Roerslev and Mathias Jensen from the team that defeated United in August 2022.
That was a riot, a real assault on the weak, with all four goals coming between the 10th and 35th minute. This time the pressure patterns were almost identical, albeit Brentford somehow failed to break.
How? Heaven knows, but in the same period in which they killed United once before, Raphael Varane had to launch himself into a Lewis-Potter shot, Onana tapped away a Mathias Jensen drive, Yoane Wissa and Zanka were each marginally wide – target with free headers from Diogo Dalot and Toney hit a post.
Man United were lucky when Brentford’s Ivan Toney’s shot hit the goal post
Brentford manager Thomas Frank has struggled to achieve positive results in recent weeks
Man United fans had high hopes for Erik ten Hag’s side after their dramatic FA Cup win
None went in; on another day maybe three or four could have happened. After United looked relatively stable in the opening ten minutes, things were in shambles. Sitting ducks minus the colorful feathers and buoyancy.
The components of their problems? Dalot’s marking was repeatedly exposed as a vulnerability, Toney was a mismatch for Varane on set pieces and Roerslev spent the half moving into space behind Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Frank was well aware of how the latter merged with the other two weaknesses and dried up that route – so many attacks from Roerslev’s right flank were causing United problems.
As such, they spent all but a handful of minutes. Mainoo was a delight when he could get on the ball – of course he was – but too many of the attacking options, from Marcus Rashford to Bruno Fernandes and especially Alejandro Garnacho, were passive spectators at a kick.
That they escaped the half on equal terms was incredibly fortunate indeed.
Ten Hag responded by hooking Varane for Harry Maguire on the break – Varane appeared to have hurt himself earlier when blocking a Toney shot – and his side’s general energy also increased. They were able to push Brentford back by pressing with fewer gaps and more urgency, especially Rashford and Garnacho.
Those increased efforts saw Dalot go close from distance and Rasmus Hojlund, chasing a goal in a seventh consecutive league match, was tipped wide by Mark Flokken.
While that was promising for a moment, it was quickly shut down, with one chance for Wissa and two good saves from Onana to keep out Yehor Yarmoliuk and Lewis-Potter on the rebound. To reinforce the impression of a siege, Wissa then fired a volley wide.
Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo hit the crossbar with a fierce volley after a route one move
Toney thought he had scored with a close-range volley, but it was cleared for offside
Ajer scored the equalizer as the Bees got into the penalty area again, as Toney turned provider
Garnacho was taken off for Antony after rolling the dice and, more worryingly for Ten Hag, he was then forced to replace a second centre-back after Victor Lindelof went down injured. That disappointment may have been offset by the benefit of a marginal offside against Toney as he seemingly hammered Brentford into the lead. Bryan Mbeumo followed it up by crashing into the crossbar after United were completely eliminated on a set-piece.
Just when it looked like this match couldn’t be tougher for Brentford, Mason Mount came on as a substitute to put them ahead six minutes into stoppage time. That was actually crazy, as order was only partially restored amid the madness when Kristoffer Ajer equalized from close range moments later.