What Erik ten Hag did in Man United dressing room vs Brentford proves he's running out of ideas

When the Brentford players returned to the home dressing room at the Gtech Community Stadium midway through Saturday's game with Manchester United, they probably felt their best chance of winning the match had been and gone.

The Bees had 14 shots in the first half but went in at the break goalless. They would have been cursing those missed chances and expecting United to be much better after the break. This is what the very best teams do, they correct what is going wrong and they find solutions during the 15-minute pause.

Brentford had already been on the receiving end of such a situation this year. They caused Manchester City problems in the first half of their home clash against the champions at the start of February, but City equalised just before half-time and improved after the break to win 3-1.

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But little did Thomas Frank's players realise that rather than improving for 15 minutes to reset and come up with a new plan, United would get worse. Brentford had another 17 shots after the break and although they ended up needing a Kristoffer Ajer equaliser in the 99th minute to get a point, this was a game they dominated and one they would win eight or nine times out of 10.

It is the hosts who will be cursing their failure to win a game in which they had 31 shots and ended with an xG tally of 3.2, their second-highest total of the season. For Erik ten Hag, it was another chastening night and another occasion in which the impact he is now having on this team has to be questioned.

He had the full length of the half-time interval on Saturday to