Michael Carrick’s Manchester United rode a couple moments of magic to another three points at home on Monday in a 2-1 win over Brentford.
United’s interim boss had to gut out the win after Mathias Jensen gave Brentford a deserved late life line, but saw his men move closer to sealing a return to the UEFA Champions League.
MORE — Man United v Brentford recap, video highlights
Bruno Fernandes moved within an assist of the Premier League single season record when he set up Benjamin Sesko’s 10th goal of the Premier League season, and sent in the corner that became Casemiro’s headed opener.
Casemiro’s goal was his career-best ninth of the season, and he joined fellow veteran Harry Maguire in making this a veteran-drilled win.
Carrick should have plenty to say about this game as his men worked hard to keep a feisty group of Bees from swarming into a point.
Michael Carrick reaction — What did Manchester United manager say after win over Brentford?
Thoughts on the game: “It was quite an open game at times, actually. We started fantastically well, as good as we’ve started for a good spell, 20-25 minutes, and should’ve been at least a goal more up. Credit to them, they are a good team and they have a really good mix of threats in different ways. They came into the game a little bit. We were in a good place at second time but thought we were getting a bit too open so we tweaked things the second half. We had decent control in the second half but towards the end they had decent opportunities and we needed to defend the box. We could’ve scored more but listen it’s the time of year where it’s a results business and we’ve had a fantastic two games on the heels of the Leeds defeat.”
Halftime change was crucial: “We were gonna make it anyway and we ended up scoring a second goal to put us in an even better position. There were just certain spaces we thought we needed to cope a little bit better. I thought in the second half it had a good effect. It was a purely tactical one. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In the position we were in we wanted to see the game through.”
Bruno Fernandes could really break the Premier League single-season assist record: “We hope so. In terms of scoring goals we’ve scored pretty much every game and Bruno’s a big part of that. Our front line is a collective, with the connections and the relationship... in an important moment. He could’ve had one more, maybe scored himself. I thought we were dangerous throughout the game.”
What did you like most? “The way we the boys managed it, sticking together. It’s a tough league to get results in, and that’s proven over recent weeks and months. We’re happy to get the three points tonight.
Big result heading into a weekend match with Liverpool: “It’s another win and we have an important game coming up at the weekend. It’s a big game for different reasons and we’re looking forward to that. We put ourselves in a good position with a win tonight.”
