On Saturday, the Red Devils return to the scene of one of their most devastating defeats in recent years, one that quickly changed their tactical plan
Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium is not normally a ground that inspires dread in opponents, but the sight of the small, modern arena on the edge of west London is likely to bring back harrowing memories for Erik ten Hag when Manchester United face the Bees on Saturday night. It has been more than 19 months since United's previous visit, but no one with any connection with the club is likely to forget it, especially those who played or sat in the dugout.
The shock 4-0 drubbing by Thomas Frank's side in the second game of last season was one of the worst results United have endured in the Premier League era, and it had a profound effect on Ten Hag.
The Dutchman was hired by United on the strength of his achievements with Ajax, who had dominated Dutch football and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League playing attractive, possession football. Ten Hag had sought to impose that style on United in his first pre-season at the helm, but the battering in Brentford, which followed an opening day defeat at home to Brighton, forced him to have an urgent and radical rethink.
Getty Targeted and torn apart
United had dominated possession against Brighton and did the same in their visit to Brentford, seeing 66 percent of the ball. However, they were ripped apart by their wily hosts, who hunted them in packs, robbed them of possession and pounced quickly and ruthlessly.
The Red Devils also played their part in their own downfall by making some horrendous individual mistakes. Cristiano Ronaldo was tackled in his own half for the opening goal and went down in a heap. Brentford quickly worked the ball to Josh Dasilva, whose tame low shot sneaked under the body of David de Gea.
It was the first of many dire errors from De Gea in what would prove to be his last season with United, as only a few minutes later the Spaniard made another mistake, passing out to Christian Eriksen, who was dispossessed, allowing Mathias Jensen to strike from close range.
Brentford's third goal was helped by chaotic marking from a corner, with Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez misjudging the flight of the ball and losing headers, leading to Ben Mee nodding home. Soon after, Bryan Mbeumo scored Brentford's fourth goal in the space of 25 minutes, this one coming from a counter-attack launched from deep in their own penalty box.
Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesRipping up the playbook
The defeat had two short-term ramifications. Firstly, Ten Hag cancelled the players' scheduled day off and made them run 14km, the difference in distance cover by United during the match compared to Brentford. In a show of solidarity, the Dutchman ran with the players.
The second ripple effect was that the club made two emergency and very expensive transfers, signing Casemiro from Real Madrid days later and then Antony from Ajax, costing the club around £155m ($195m) in transfer fees.
But the biggest impact was on the team's style of play. Ten Hag quickly decided to dispense with the style he had devised in his first few weeks in charge and instead played it safe, opting for a reactive, direct style not too dissimilar to that of his predecessors Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho.
In United's next game against Liverpool, they had just 29.5% of the ball. But the difference was they beat Jurgen Klopp's side 2-1. The trend continued, albeit to varying degrees, against Southampton, Leicester and Arsenal, winning each time.
United ended up finishing last season third in the Premier League but ranked sixth in terms of average possession, having 53.8% of the ball per game. They ranked seventh on goals scored, with 59, as many as Brentford. They also came seventh in passing accuracy.
Getty Onana's limited impact
There was expectation that United would become a more expansive, more possession-focused team in Ten Hag's second season, especially after the club ruthlessly cut ties with De Gea and brought in Andre Onana, the Dutchman's goalkeeper from his Ajax days who was widely admired for his ability to play out from the back.
But Onana has not helped United radically change their style. While he has been willing to take risks with the ball and has occasionally been burned, such as against Galatasaray in the Champions League, he has often had to resort to pumping the ball downfield due to the reluctance of his defenders to progress the ball from their own area.
The Cameroonian has helped United score one goal, Marcus Rashford's stunner against Manchester City earlier this month, but that was from a long kick out of his hands that was chested down by Bruno Fernandes, not an intricate passing move he had engineered.
Only Martinez of United's defenders is comfortable enough in possession to work with Onana, and he has missed much of the campaign. Incidentally, the Argentine could make his comeback from a knee injury against Brentford.
Getty ImagesHonouring United's DNA
Despite Onana's arrival, the move away from possession football has not only continued into Ten Hag's second season, it has accelerated. United are currently ranked ninth in terms of possession, with 50.1% per game. Ten Hag has addressed the change in style and been frank about it.
When asked during an interview with last October when his United side would start playing like his Ajax team, he gave an emphatic response: "Never. We will never play that football. Because those were different players. This is also not why I came here. We are playing different football than I showed at Ajax because I have to, because I can’t play the same way.
"That is not in the DNA of Manchester United at all. The football at Ajax is very typical, here we will play much more directly. We also have the players for that, especially in attack."
Ten Hag's words took many by surprise and were widely criticised as him giving up on imposing his style on the Red Devils. But he was also speaking the truth; United have always had a direct style of based on quick wing play, harking back to the days of Sir Matt Busby's teams of the 1950s and 1960s.
Sir Alex Ferguson's first great side were renowned for their counter-attacking through wingers Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis, while David Beckham and later Cristiano Ronaldo continued that tradition. Ferguson was also known for his pragmatism in the biggest matches and would rarely play on the front foot against the top opponents, even when at Old Trafford.
Louis van Gaal was the one manager who successfully managed to get United to play possession football, but the abiding memory of his two years in charge is one of boredom. Indeed, fans were so apathetic about the sideways passing that was routinely being served up that the club began to worry that many would not renew their season tickets.