MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag paid tribute to his side’s character as they came back from a goal down to beat Brentford 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday thanks to two stoppage-time goals by substitute Scott McTominay.
Looking ragged after going a goal down in the first half, the closest United came to equalising was an Anthony Martial strike that was ruled out for offside until McTominay snatched all three points.
“It showed the big character of this team, it showed resilience, it shows also that we have a plan to keep going, and you have to make your own luck, and that is what we did,” Ten Hag said.
“They kept going the whole game — we were losing, but the belief was always there, and they are also patient. They were calm, we kept switching the game and we created chances, but the ball was not going in the net,” Ten Hag added.
“It tells something about the dressing-room, a player who is coming on for five minutes and bringing that spirit on the pitch, he fights so (much) for the badge, and you have to earn the badge, but definitely Scott McTominay is United,” he said.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank was sanguine as he summed up the frenetic final minutes of a match he said his side had played almost perfectly.
“To lose the game is even more brutal, at least a draw was probably a fairer reflection,” Frank said.
“(That’s) the beauty of the game of football. The ball dropped in the right areas for them, that’s it … first half, we were much better than in the second, but so close to being the perfect away performance.”
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor, editing by Ed Osmond)
