Ten Hag tells senior players to ‘stand up and take responsibility’ as horror stat shows Brentford draw was new low

8 months ago 48

ERIK TEN HAG told his senior players to “stand up and take responsibility” after a shocking stat showcased Manchester United’s dire level in their 1-1 draw with Brentford.

The Red Devils were outplayed at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday night and incredibly fortunate to come away with a point.

And the numbers back up just how poor the visitors were as they conceded a remarkable 31 SHOTS.

Brentford also had 85 TOUCHES in Man Utd‘s penalty area, compared with just 16 in the opposing box.

Ivan Toney had 15 on his own – just one fewer than the entirety of Ten Hag’s side.

And the 85 touches registered by Brentford is the most recorded against Man Utd in a Premier League game since the 2008/09 season.

The previous highest came in December 2019 when Manchester City hosted their local rivals at the Etihad and racked up 79 touches.

Remarkably, the Red Devils have not lost either match as they ended up beating Man City 2-1 four and a half years ago.

Yet the damning stats will still be a major concern for Ten Hag – whose future is constantly being called into question.

And he urged his players to improve during his post-match press conference.

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He said: “We didn’t deserve to win but we showed resilience all through the game.

“But in points of aggression, Brentford were better. We should show more passion and desire in many moments in the game. But when you are winning you should bring it over the line.

“You can never compare such levels and performances [to Liverpool] but also when you don’t play well you still have to win – we did it almost. That is my big disappointment that we didn’t bring it over the line.

“We didn’t play well but there was spirit, there was fight, but not enough. It was enough to get the goal, 1-0, and before that we had a big chance for Rasmus Hojlund.

“We have many senior players we should all stand up and we also take responsibility for this.”

The Brentford draw leaves Man Utd eight points behind fifth-place Tottenham and 11 adrift of fourth-place Aston Villa with just nine games remaining.

The dropped points puts a huge dent in Ten Hag’s hopes of Champions League qualification.

But they are still in the FA Cup with a semi-final against Coventry on April 21.