Ruben Amorim will be hoping his side's victory over Chelsea will be the stepping stone for success. He takes his Man Utd team to a tricky Brentford outfit who always seem to cause the Red Devils trouble.
However, with the boost of what turned out to be quite the 3 points over the Blues, perhaps that will give United the confidence they need moving forward.
Predicted Lineup
There will be those that say that the manager should stick to a winning team but that side seemed very specific for the Chelsea game. There is no future with it and I think it's about time we start to see our strongest XI or at least one that we think is.
Bayindir has been decent but we know he is shaky and not long-term. Having signed Lammens, this surely has to be the game where he starts. I don't see the reason buying a new goalkeeper (young or otherwise) only to keep him on the bench for a backup GK who isn't good enough to be a backup GK.
Ahead of the Belgian, we also need to see something more settled. Amorim has been changing his back three and usually makes a strange substitution that sees Maguire come on for Yoro or vice versa. It's a change that makes little sense especially because he's done it when we need to be more attacking.
I've gone for the more orthodox Shaw, De Ligt and a returning Yoro.
Dorgu and Mazraoui to continue at wing-back and with no Casemiro who is suspended after his red card against the Blues, Ugarte comes in for him next to Bruno. We all know it won't be Mainoo.
Up front is actually where I've been having the most trouble.
Cunha and Mount are back. Whenever they've been fit, Amorim has started them with Mbeumo as the front three. However, with Sesko now being a regular and an actual striker besides, surely he has to keep his place in the team? He was also pivotal to that red card for Robert Sanchez early in the win last time out.
But what about Amad?
Good question.
Amorim used the Ivorian as a RWB when he's had that front three available and when Mazraoui was injured. Now that they are all fit, it does pose the question of where does Amad play?
Perhaps a place on the bench would be appropriate. He's had some trouble off the field resulting in him deleting all his posts from Instagram and X. This was apparently due to some online abuse he received for his shirt swap with Garnacho after the Chelsea game.
More worryingly for me, has been his performances. I don't think he's been that good and deserves to be dropped for that. However, the manager seems to really like Amad and has played him in all six games.
What does Amorim do?
I've just gone with Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko but it could be anything.
Approach
The stats tell us that we should be clear at the top of the table. Obviously, we aren't, yet those numbers do indicate that there is something happening at United.
Amorim previously mentioned how it was lack of quality in the final third and poor concentration in our own box that has caused us to drop points in games.
I agree with that, to an extent.
I believe it goes a little beyond just improving at either end of the field.
We do look like a decent side but only in moments. United appear to have periods of dominants lasting about 15-20 minutes at a time. As we end up not making the most of being on top during these moments, the oppositions come back into it and proceed to take control.
This is when they do what we cannot and take the lead.
Amorim's team do also start well as in all five league matches, we have been the better side. But this is what I mean that we don't stamp our authority. Despite those fast starts, it was only against Chelsea that we scored within 15 minutes. That was due to the fact they were down to 10 men.
We failed to score against Arsenal and City, missed a couple chances through Cunha at Fulham in the first 10 minutes, Bruno then missed his penalty not long after, and it took us almost half-an-hour to score at home to Burnley when we should've been a goal or 2 up.
It's these moments that frustrate us all and make the games harder than they should be.
I also find that we don't have quality in terms of delivery. Dorgu is one such player. Down the left flank is where we seem to have the most joy in terms of our wing-backs. The problem comes when Dorgu makes the wrong decision or puts in a ball that is utter shite.
United are 2nd (somehow) when it comes to most successful crosses from open play with 25. Mbeumo has the most crosses for us with 9 and so far, his deliveries have been pretty good.
We need to utilize the width a lot better especially when looking at how Brentford could line up.
With the three most creative players in the league (Cunha, Mbeumo, Bruno), they should surely have enough creativity to make some chances for Sesko or whoever plays up front.
I feel the Slovenian is desperate to get on the scoresheet. Amorim said of that Amad chance “Then we have a situation three against one and the goalkeeper is out of the goal, and we missed the last pass."
Spot on.
Should we take our chances and not concede stupid goals, we won't necessarily have to worry about the midfield issue as we will outscore most teams. Ugarte is also quicker to cover ground compared to Casemiro meaning he and Bruno could work a lot better.
Form
We come into this one in 11th place after that win over Chelsea. That position may not seem like it's the best but what if I said it was because we have 7 points which is the same as Pep Fraudiola and Man City and just 3 points behind the so called title favourites Arsenal.
If we beat Brentford, we would move up to 5th! For a few hours at least.
Can't remember when we were that high in the table!
It ain't that bad when you put it that way, is it?
United's victory over the Blues was Amorim's first back-to-back home triumphs after getting the 3 points against Burnley. However, our goal difference is still at -2 which ain't great and we haven't kept a clean sheet.
These further indicate those issues of not scoring enough and conceding too many.
In terms of the recent meetings, United have had the better of it since the Bees got promoted in 21/22. Sandwiched between that 4-0 loss and last season's 4-3 defeat, United had won three out of four.
The flip side is that we have just one victory at the Gtech Community Stadium in four attempts.
Brentford
Things were always going to be difficult for the Bees after losing their manager and some of their best players.
Their position of 17th in the table shows this and so does amassing just 4 points (one win, one draw, two losses). Brentford have also conceded the third-most (10) with only Wolves and West Ham having let in more, although they have scored 6 which is the same as United.
New manager Keith Andrews also seems to be struggling with his formation. In the opening three matches, he played a 4-2-3-1 but in the last two, he went to something the Bees are more accustomed to: 5-3-2.
Traditionally, they've been a side that we all know doesn't keep a lot of the ball. But that was under Thomas Frank. With a new man in charge, they don't like to keep a lot of the ball.
Brentford average the second-lowest possession with just 39.6% which shows they are still keeping to their former Danish manager's roots.
This may not be a bad thing for them though. United tend to find things difficult against teams that sit deep and have little possession. For this particular game, such a tactic might work for Andrews.
Putting the ball into the box through set-pieces or open play is another method of hurting this United side. It is an apparent area of weakness as half of the goals we've conceded have come from crosses and corners.
Brentford did score from a long throw-in against Chelsea. I'd look to do this whenever possible as well.
Prediction
You know, I don't have the best feeling with this. I'm hoping more than expecting us to win. That victory over Chelsea could give us some momentum but you can never trust this side.
Teams like Brentford are also those that we usually cock up against, the teams we should be beating.
Their style of play and our ability to make mistakes is what makes me think this will be a 2-2 draw.
How are you feeling ahead of United's trip to Brentford?
Jordan Henderson | Image via Brentford official X (@BrentfordFC)
Senne Lammens | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)