Erik ten Hag admits ‘anger’ fuelled Man Utd comeback after Matthijs de Ligt controversy

Manchester United produced a fightback to beat Brentford 2-1 thanks to second-half goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund in a major boost for under-pressure manager Erik ten Hag

Erik ten Hag has revealed how a sense of injustice fuelled a furious Manchester United fightback that helped ease the pressure on their beleaguered manager.

United survived the shock of going behind to Ethan Pinnock’s headed goal in first-half injury time to secure a priceless three points thanks to a devastating second-half double from Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund.

But the home side were raging with referee Sam Barrott for ordering a bloodied Matthijs de Ligt to the sidelines to have a head injury patched-up just before Pinnock struck. Assistant boss Ruud van Nistelrooy was booked for protesting on the touchline – and Ten Hag said: “We were mad.

“We were very angry at half-time because we were controlling the game. I can’t understand why Matthijs was sent off (for treatment). It was dry blood so he was already treated for the injury. It was a huge moment because Brentford are very good at corners and we were missing one of our best headers.

“But you saw the togetherness, the fighting spirt – and we added some determination to score goals. The statistics show we play good football but don’t score enough. Today we scored two brilliant goals. They were high quality.”

It was United’s first Premier League win in four games – and the victory was timed perfectly after Ten Hag was given a vote of confidence to carry on during the international break.

Ten Hag added: “The pressure is always there because we have to win every game. When you are 1-0 down, you have to see how we turned it around. We felt some injustice and used it as fuel.

“I really enjoyed the performance but it is just a win. We haven’t been winning enough games – even though we only lost one game in the last block of games when we were down to 10 men.

“This can give us confidence to turn good performances into wins. If we are clinical like we were today then we will win a lot more games.”

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