Il Messaggiere - Ten Hag urges goal-shy Man Utd to build on Brentford win

The Red Devils had failed to score in the Premier League for over 300 minutes before Alejandro Garnacho blasted in to cancel out Ethan Pinnock's first-half header.

Rasmus Hojlund then completed the comeback with a deft finish to lift United up to 10th in the Premier League table.

Ten Hag's men had scored just five goals in their opening seven league games of the season, three of which came at bottom-of-the-table Southampton.

"We don't score enough, we are not clinical enough, but today we scored two great goals," said Ten Hag.

"The two goals we scored were high quality and we have seen this team has the capacity to score very good goals. When you score you add some belief, some confidence.

"We created enough chances (in previous games) and didn't score enough and then you don't win games and everyone is negative. It is only one win, we have to build on this."

Ten Hag on Friday defiantly slammed speculation he is on the brink of losing his job as "fairy tales and lies."

The Dutchman has been under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks after United won just three of their first 10 games of the campaign in all competitions.

However, United's desperate need for a result did not show in a subdued first half that only sprung into life in added time.

Garnacho was the one bright spark of the United attack as the Argentinian twice forced Mark Flekken into saves and also blasted into the side-netting.

But the biggest chance of a flat first 45 minutes for the home side fell to Christian Eriksen, who somehow blasted over against his former club with just Flekken to beat.

United were furious at the circumstances surrounding the opener five minutes into added time at the end of the first half.

- 'Injustice' -

Matthijs de Ligt had suffered a deep cut on his head early on when he crashed into the knee of Kevin Schade.

The Dutch international twice had to go off the field to stem the flow of blood.

In De Ligt's absence, Brentford took advantage of United being down a man as Pinnock powered in a header from Mikkel Damsgaard's corner.

Ten Hag was booked for his protests, but his side used the perceived injustice to fire them up for a flying start to the second half.

"It was a huge moment because Brentford are very good from corners and they benefit from it," added Ten Hag.

"We felt some injustice and we used this as fuel for the second half. We increased the tempo and scored two great goals. We enjoyed the second half."

Garnacho found his range with a sumptuous volley from Marcus Rashford's cross 90 seconds into the second period.

United's lack of a clinical striker has been central to their struggles this season and the poise shown by Hojlund for the winner will come as some relief to Ten Hag.

Bruno Fernandes was the creator with a deft touch that played in the Dane, who coolly lofted the ball over the advancing Flekken for his first Premier League goal of the season.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank, who has been linked as a potential successor to Ten Hag, was left to regret his side's start to the second half.

"We knew they would come out flying and we were way too passive," said Frank.

"The momentum just changed, they got on top, confidence grew and we lacked the quality we had in the first half. Second half too many of my players failed to hit their highest level."

F.Laguardia--IM