Erik ten Hag said that Manchester United utilized the “injustice” of Ethan Pinnock’s goal to drive their comeback against Brentford.
Pinnock headed Brentford ahead from a corner in the fifth minute of extra time in the first half, after Matthijs de Ligt was substituted to have his head injury treated.
De Ligt had already left the ground twice to have his head examined by United medical personnel, but blood was still evident as he prepared for Brentford’s corner.
Ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy were both punished for their objections, and United’s manager still believed referee Sam Barrott was incorrect in telling De Ligt to go to the touchline since there was dry blood on his crown.
“It was dried blood, therefore he was previously treated for the injuries,” Ten Hag explained. “Just dried blood. No one in our group understood why he was sent off.
“I approached Matthijs, who replied, ‘It is simply dried blood, therefore I have to come off, I am not sure why.'” It is a big moment because Brentford is really excellent at corners. When you miss a header and they score, you are unhappy.
“It is speculative; we will never know (if it sparked United’s comeback).” But we were clearly outraged and angry at halftime. We had a concept; it was not flawless, but we controlled the game. We did not concede opportunities; instead, we created several, and it was unfair to concede as we did.
“De Ligt informed me he was OK. When he got off, I asked him if there was something wrong. No, he was very present, and there was never any debate about taking him off.
Alejandro Garnacho equalised within two minutes of the restart, and Rasmus Hojlund scored the winning goal on 62 minutes to move United up to eighth in the Premier League rankings.
United has now won as many league games as they have lost, despite going 317 minutes without scoring in the league. Ten Hag is sure that scoring goals has been the team’s sole issue this season.
Hojlund has scored in two of his three starts after returning from a hamstring injury suffered in the first game of United’s pre-season tour against Arsenal in Los Angeles.
