Manchester United and the last game ‘saved’ faith

With only three games left in the season, Manchester United understood that they had only one way to go: Win to keep their hopes up for a place in the top four, even though the chances are slim, or at least create points. psychological support before starting again with new coach Erik Ten Hag. Therefore, the last match at Old Trafford this season is even more meaningful in this short but important journey.

Coach Ralf Rangnick surprised many people when he let Juan Mata start from the start, and switched Bruno Fernandes to the left corridor and continued to push Marcus Rashford on the bench.

The change came into play in the 8th minute – when Dalot passed a long ball late into the field for Anthony Elanga to speed up, then the young Swede had a precise pass for Fernandes to easily score his 10th goal in this season.

Juan Mata is also not far behind. The most remarkable thing for the rest of the first half was the coordination ability of the old Manchester United duo – 34-year-old Juan Mata and 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.

One of the most outstanding features of Mata’s play is his ability to appear in the right place at the right time and help the team play smoother. And that was shown in the 44th minute – he appeared in the left corridor to pick up the ball and then pass it to CR7 to hit Brentford’s net. Unfortunately for this duo, the goal was disallowed.

In the following minutes, fans at Old Trafford continued to witness a very different Manchester United from recent matches: Although there were still some poor defensive situations, in general they attacked coherently and effectively.

The next 2 goals of Red Devil – Ronaldo’s penalty kick and Raphael Varane’s volley – both set pieces – but the important thing was that their play convinced the fans to stay and enjoy the victory.

Before the match, Manchester United fans planned to leave when the game had 17 minutes left to protest against the 17 years of the Glazer family’s rule, but in the end, developments on the field made this plan impossible. Few fans left their seats as originally planned – and that’s thanks to one of the rare matches where Manchester United have performed well under caretaker manager Ralf Rangnick.

At least the Red Devils made the fans at Old Trafford proud in their last home game of the season to restore the faith of the fans before a fresh start with Erik Ten Hag.