Coach Ten Hag: 'Man Utd reacted after losing to Newcastle'

"There were passions and aspirations that were lost on Sunday, but we made it through," coach Ten Hag said after the game at Old Trafford. "When you lose focus, mistakes can happen. We wanted to play like a machine and not make mistakes. We had a few errors but luckily they didn't capitalize on them."

Last weekend, Man Utd unexpectedly received a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle. Coach Ten Hag said that it was an unacceptable performance, not of the desirable level of Man Utd. Therefore, he is very satisfied with the reception of the players. "We had to react later, and we did. I liked the way we played in the first half against a very difficult opponent - especially against top teams."

Man Utd overwhelmed Brentford and opened the scoring at half-time thanks to Marcus Rashford's foot in the penalty area. At the beginning of the second half, midfielder Lisandro Martinez released the ball to De Gea, but the Spanish goalkeeper hit Ivan Toney who was crossing. Fortunately for Man Utd, the ball went out of goal.

Less than 20 minutes later, Raphael Varane lost his rhythm as he cleared the ball, letting Kevin Schade drop down to face De Gea. This time, the 32-year-old goalkeeper corrected his teammates when he successfully blocked Schade's shot. Man Utd then secured a 1-0 lead to earn three important points in the top 4 race.

"This is a big win," added coach Ten Hag. "We showed a lot more desire than the last game. Brentford is an unpleasant opponent, they have only lost one of the last 16 Premier League matches."

Man Utd lost 0-4 at Brentford at the beginning of the season. The successful repayment helped them have 53 points, equal to Newcastle but ranked fourth due to poor difference. Coach Ten Hag's teachers and students created a three-point gap with Tottenham's fifth team and still had a match against Brighton.

Man Utd meet Everton this weekend, then take on Sevilla in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals next week.