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When Brentford scored four goals against Manchester United without reacting at the Gtech Community Stadium in August, when the season was still in its infancy, the audience struggled to comprehend what they had just seen. Presented as the savior who would forge a new dawn. With United putting Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s era of jokes firmly in the club’s rear-view mirrors, Erik in Hag looked as bewildered as anyone through his looks during the comically chaotic first-half performance in what was only his second game – and second consecutive defeat – in charge. “By making mistakes like this, at our level, you just can’t make them,” he growled, before ordering those who made them to participate in a convened recovery session, disguised as a punishment cross. -Country Race.
As is often the case when a big club is humiliated in this way by so-called minnows, most of the post-match attention was focused on the myriad shortcomings of the losers rather than the excellence of the winners who put them to the sword. The visitors in such brilliant fashion, Thomas Frank and his players had just given a sign of the future. Since then, they have beaten Liverpool and Manchester City. Only the 3 most sensible groups in the Premier League table have lost fewer games than them. this season. Tonight, they will line up at Old Trafford to watch and score a league brace against Manchester United for the first time in 86 years.
While things have improved for United since their unpromising opening season, their latest outing at Newcastle saw them return to the tactics of yesteryear. They will want to strengthen their concepts significantly if they are to avoid being pressured and beaten by a Brentford side who will almost certainly target David de Gea, one of United’s most productive and worst players this season. Author of impressive saves, the Spaniard looks more and more like a twist of fate that happens every time his team owns and the ball is at his feet. He and his defenders, many of whom are probably still suffering from the night terrors brought on by the Bees’ blitz last season, can expect to be continually overrun into the night when they try to get the ball out from the back.
“We have potentially the toughest game of the season,” Frank said, praising the hosts in his pre-match speech. “We’re going to go to the bigger box with those fans, unlike a very intelligent team that is much more stable. Erik ten Hag and his team did a very smart job. While the Dane is right, it can be argued that he did a much bigger job with only a small fraction of the resources. A win for the visitors would put Brentford in the Grand Cup qualifying mix. Above them, Newcastle and Brighton are already doing their best to take advantage of the existing tendency of the Big Cup greats to get it wrong.
While the vast wealth of their owners means it’s really only a matter of time before they battle it out for titles, Newcastle seem to be increasingly booking their return to the Grand Cup earlier than expected. Eddie Howe’s side travel to West Ham, the first of a largely subdued 10-game run for the Magpies: mighty Brentford next.
Join Luke McLaughlin to watch the live politics of Brentf West Ham 1-1 Newcastle (thanks for nothing, Big TV), while Rob Smyth is on deck for Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid (3-2 on aggregate) in the Copa del Rey semi-finals. finals. final: either will start at 8 p. m. BST.
“We need to put an end to false and disturbing assumptions and reports in the media to verify that Steve Cooper is still our manager at Nottingham Forest. . . We’ve all been disappointed by recent performances. . . the effects and the performances will have to be immediately” – The owner of the forest, Evangelos Marinakis, gives his manager a vote of confidence so menacing that he might as well have nailed it straight into the dreaded Do One gate.
Chelsea objected to Liverpool entertaining, but not in a clever way. The podders review this and all the other Premier League moves in the latest Football Weekly.
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