Antony did what Erik ten Hag asked him for Manchester United vs Brentford

Erik ten Hag got a lot of things wrong in Manchester United's defeat to Newcastle. He got a lot of things right in the win over Brentford, though.

The Dutchman only made one change from the side that performed so poorly at the weekend, with Jadon Sancho replacing Wout Weghorst, but mixed things up in midfield by smartly swapping his central midfielders around.

Another key aspect was to keep his faith in Antony. The Brazilian has endured a mixed start to his life at Old Trafford, but has the priceless star quality to influence a game and create game-winning moments on his own. He did just that to win this one.

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United were overall better than their weekend showing right from the off, but just as apparent was the continued lack of midfield craft to break down robust defensive sides.

Brentford appeared happy to let the hosts have the ball and put the onus on them to attack, a common theme of frustration in recent weeks.

Without the midfield menace of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro it instead fell to three attacking aces to try and find a way beyond a robust defensive line.

"We need players who can create something with dribbles, with movements, with moments and thinking outside of the box," Ten Hag had said before the match. "Jadon can do it, Antony dos Santos, Marcus and also Marcel Sabitzer as well."

They targeted quick exchanges in central midfield and drilled diagonal balls to try and create space, but while that worked to a degree, they struggled for any real cutting edge in the final third.

It was always going to take a moment of magic or a lapse of concentration to have any success. They had both of those things when they finally took the lead.

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