The stats behind Man Utd's dreadful defeat at Brentford
By Sean Walsh
From Gtech Community Stadium - Manchester United dropped to the foot of the Premier League table on Saturday evening after a humiliating 4-0 defeat at Brentford.
David de Gea gifted Josh Dasilva a first top-flight goal at the Gtech Community Stadium to kick off proceedings, while the Spaniard's woeful kicking and Christian Eriksen's inability to beat the press on his return to west London saw Mathias Jensen double their advantage soon after.
Ben Mee towered over Lisandro Martinez from a corner to notch Brentford's third, and United conceded a fourth after simply letting the Bees run at them on the counter, with Bryan Mbeumo delivering the final blow.
It was a day that will live long in the memory of fans across the globe, and it continued Erik ten Hag's miserable start to life with United. Here are some of the eye-catching stats from what will surely become a famous fixture for years and years.
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1. Fitter, faster, stronger
Brentford are a pressing side and United are not. This isn't news to anyone.
But the Bees ran over 14km more than the Red Devils, the biggest club in the country.
How does that even happen?
2. Basement club
For the first time since August 21 1992 - the first month of the Premier League era - United finish the day in last place.
If it makes their fans feel any better, back then there used to be 22 teams in the division. So things could always be worse, I guess.
3. Downward spiral
Before October 2020, United had never conceded four or more goals in the first half of a Premier League game.
This is now the third time that it's happened - Tottenham were 4-1 up in an eventual 6-1 win in 2020/21, while Liverpool were four to the good before running out 5-0 victors last season.
Both of those losses came at Old Trafford, so Brentford are the first team to inflict such a hammering on their own turf. Don't bank on them being alone in that regard for too long, though.
4. Expectation vs reality
According to FotMob, Brentford's expected goals came to just 1.69, with United registering 0.9.
But don't let that fool you - the Bees were head and shoulders above their sorry visitors.
5. Goals
The only stat that matters etc etc.
Brentford scored four. Manchester United scored zero. Goodnight, everybody.
