Just back. From the optimism of last week, today underlined the reality of how poor Utd are offensively. Think we had 1 attempt on target during 90 mins, Collins' header and goal, we only managed 2 corners. Brentford dominated throughout and apart from a short spell after when we scored, it was one way traffic. Could have been lot worse had it not been for Long and some poor finishing by Brentford. Apart from Brandy, got nothing going forward, and when he is not on song, like today, difficult to see how things will and can improve on last season. Today underlined that it will be a long, long season.
Agree to an extent. Brentford were the best team I saw last season, and are much as they were - possibly better than last year - so that has to be taken into account.
That said, we had a real lesson today. They were quicker on the ball for the majority of the game, and worked hard to ensure we had no time on the ball. The first half was uncomfortable to watch. Donaldson & Logan slipped through our left-hand side at will, Forshaw (who I thought was excellent) ran the midfield. We barely got hold of the ball, and when we did caused them little problems - with the exception of Brandy, who looked lively. We were closed down quickly to the extent that on one embarrassing occasion we passed into trouble at the back after a goal kick. I was sat 5 rows or so behind Weir today - he didn't seem worried about that incident, and I can understand why. It's a new philosophy, and we'll inevitably get the occasional slip-up at the back while we get to grips with it.
Other than the brief spell before and after our goal though, we just weren't good enough.
Long 8/10 - no chance on the first goal, nor on the second, but he'll be disappointed with the killer third as he parried a fairly standard shot into Grigg. Really superb save on the penalty, and a number of other saves kept the scoreline lower.
Westlake 2/10 - woeful. I can stomach his defensive frailties if he does the business in the final third of the pitch, but he was poor everywhere today. He's also the worst at trying to get away with a foul - some players get away with it, but his discretions are always quite blatant. Lucky not to have been given a second yellow with the last kick of the game, but the ref blew full time instead.
Williams 3/10 - not quite as attrocious as Westlake, but throughout was a clear weak link that was repeatedly exploited.
Maguire 7.5/10 - assuming that I'm right and the penalty was very harsh, I thought he was our best outfielder today. Generally quite solid, and his quick thinking on the free kick led to the corner for our goal.
Collins 7/10 - generally solid too, lovely header on the goal.
Doyle 5.5/10 - really didn't get to grips with the game in my opinion. Some wretched passing that often meant players had to do two touches rather than one, let Forshaw boss the game.
McGinn 5/10 - decent delivery for the goal after an initially poor effort. Was badly at fault for the 2nd when he tried shielding the ball for a goal kick from George Saville, who was able to nick the ball off him and set up Grigg. Was otherwise not really in the game.
Coady 5/10 - invisible in the first half. Improved in the second, and got more on the ball, but is quite clearly unsuited to the role McDonald plays.
Murphy 5/10 - poor. Looked lost out there at times, ran down blind alleys
Brandy 6/10 - decent first half, where his trickery was our one outlet. Badly faded in the game second half.
Taylor 4/10 - really poor. The service in fairness was not always good, but when the opportunity arose for him to do something invariably he failed. Had a good chance in the first half when in space to have a shot and skied it high and wide. On today's evidence, he isn't good enough in a lone striker role.
Subs
Porter & McFadzean - were minor improvements on the people they replaced, Porter at least gave the centre-halfs some work to do.
All in all, a really disappointing performance. We badly missed McDonald in my view, and need to recruit more before the window shuts.
