Juan Mata and Paul Pogba warn Erik ten Hag about Manchester United unwanted theme

Manchester United played their final home match of the season on Monday night. Old Trafford hosted Brentford for the bout and after 90 minutes of competition, the Red Devils had secured an impressive 3-0 win.

Ralf Rangnick made a number of surprise tweaks to his team for the contest. He most notably opted to present Juan Mata with his first start of the campaign, even though the Spaniard is set to leave the club in the upcoming summer.

"He trained well and when he came on against Chelsea, he showed a good performance," Rangnick said in his reasoning behind the decision. "He deserved to be in the starting eleven so I decided to play him with Bruno [Fernandes] a little from the left."

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Throughout the course of the clash, Mata showcased true quality when in possession of the ball. He refrained from attempting Hollywood passes too often and instead seemed to prefer subtle contributions all over the pitch by linking with his teammates.

The Spaniard misplaced just six of his 62 passes against the Bees. He provided a glue of sorts in tight spaces, allowing United to retain possession better than usual in advanced areas.

It was the first time United had made over 400 passes in the first half of a Premier League match this season and crucially, it coincided with Mata being deployed in his favoured role as a no.10.

That spot has been out of bounds for the 34 year-old for much of his time in Manchester. Fernandes in particular has dominated the role since his transfer from Sporting CP in January 2020.

Whenever Mata has featured in recent times, he's been forced to occupy deeper spaces or wide areas to accommodate the players around him. It just