Manchester United collected their third win of the Premier League campaign Saturday scoring a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Brentford. The win provided the home fans with something to cheer about with United having last scored a Premier League goal at Old Trafford in their 1-0 win against Fulham on the opening day of the season.

Every week the story seems to be about manager Erik Ten Hag hitting the end of the road or buying himself some more time. It may be tiresome but that's the scrutiny that will come to a Manchester United manager when the side has won just seven of their last 21 Premier League matches and one of their last 10 in Europe - a run that includes four matches in the second tier Europa League.

Saturday was a rare opportunity to cheer. United appeared to be in cruise control for most of the match. They outshot Brentford 23-8 with the Bees only managing two shots in the second half. Erik Ten Hag moved Marcus Rashford to the right wing where he excelled as a creator while Alejandro Garnacho was dangerous on the left. Ten Hag's halftime tweak to how United pressed in saw Brentford struggle to get the ball out of their own half.

While there were plenty of smiles and optimism around Old Trafford at the full-time whistle, Ten Hag kept his feet on the ground:"Don't overrate this result. It's just a win. We have to win every game."

United and their fans are desperate to turn a corner and start seeing brighter form more consistently. The hope is United will be able to take the good things they did in this match and build on it to find more consistency. The reality is, this match wasn't all that different to anything we've seen over the last three years.

At the end of the day, this match looked a lot like many of the wings in the Erik Ten Hag era.

United won by a single goal. United have won 44 Premier League matches under Ten Hag with 27 of them coming by a single goal. That's six more one-goal wins than the next-best team over the last three years. Only Wolves have come even close to playing as many one-goal matches as United have.

The tactics were there as well. United focused their buildup down the wings before late switches were made. Alejandro Garnacho once again was the scorer of a sensational goal.

The use of Bruno Fernandes was, interesting. He was right up near the box at one point which allowed him to pick up an assist from a very nice first-touch flick and even nicer finish from Rasmus Hojlund.

However, Bruno wasn't all that involved in this match. His five progressive passes were the second-fewest he's had in a match this season and he's only had six matches over the past two years with fewer (five were losses).

Bruno did receive 10 progressive passes, which can be an indication that he was (finally) playing a bit further up the pitch and leaving the progression to someone else, but his touch location disagrees with that. Only a third of Bruno's touches came in the final third while 16 percent of his touches came in his own third. These are far off the numbers we've come to expect from Bruno.

Ten Hag initially lined the team up in sort of a hybrid 4-4-2/4-3-3 shape with Marcus Rashford playing on the right wing but also pushing up centrally into the front two.

It also meant that he was often being sucked back into his own box to defend.

When you have Bruno in all these spaces it means you don't have Bruno in the space he's best at. When you look at United's pass map from the match the lack of passing from the middle of the pitch stands out even on a map as dense as this one.

United took 23 shots against Brentford but only two of them came from their central striker. This is yet another repeated pattern United displays. A few weeks ago against Porto United took 29 shots with only two coming from their strikers. In the Premier League this season Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have only accounted for 11 of United's 112 shots, just under 10 percent.

Plainly put that's a pretty terrible ratio. Concessions should be made that United spent most of the first two matches playing without either of them on the pitch. Additionally Zirkzee not taking as many shots as Hojlund isn't as big a deal as he's more of a player who drops deep and tries to create space for the wide players to attack.

Hojlund though is an old-school center forward. He's someone who gets into the box and finishes chances. He's pretty good at that too scoring 11 Premier League goals from just 8 xG and a very strong 0.2 xG per shot. He's someone you want to get the ball to in the box. Yet this season he's taken just eight percent of United's shots when he's been on the pitch.

On Saturday he had just five touches in the box, still managing to get two shots away and of course scoring on one. Oddly he spent most of the game playing more like Zirkzee, dropping deeper to get on the ball and do more hold-up play.

Hojlund was very good in this regard, one of his best performances in terms of linkup play. That doesn't mean it's the best way to use him. This is a guy you want getting on the end of chances in the box and the fact that United don't get him in those spaces all that often is a major reason their attack is so poor.

We've seen this story with United's attack before. United took 23 shots but it took them almost 20 minutes to get their first one. Garnacho blasting away from this position seems like the type of shot you take specifically if you're hyper-aware that it's nearly been 20 minutes without a shot attempt and you just want to get one away.

United took 23 shots but their 0.06 xG per shot was their second lowest of the season. They weren't creating good scoring chances. Garnacho and Casemiro combined to blast away from outside the box six times, none of them particularly smart or good.

In order for United to really make progress they need to show they can do things that they haven't done under Ten Hag yet. This game was not an example of that but rather something we know they can do. All three of United's wins this season have come after long breaks per se - the first game of the season after an offseason break, and the first game back from an international break. And then there is the opponent.

Move over David Moyes because Thomas Frank is coming after your crown for ineptitude at Old Trafford. It never mattered how well West Ham was playing, when they showed up to Old Trafford David Moyes acted like a complete scaredy pants, set up his team only to defend, and practically handed United the three points. Thomas Frank is following in those footsteps.

This was the fourth time Brentford showed up to Old Trafford and the fourth time Brentford had no interest in trying to win the game. Every time Brentford have traveled to Old Trafford they've faced a United team in a vulnerable state ripe for the picking, yet they never seem to any interest in trying to get what would be a historic win.

Historically Brentford just shows up to Old Trafford looking like they're there to punch the block. In May of 2022, Brentford lost 3-0 to Ralf Rangnick's side that had long since been accused of quitting (and would lose their next match 4-0 to Brighton). A year later Brentford showed up with the confidence of having already beaten United 4-0 at home. You'd think they'd have a go at things especially with United also missing Casemiro due to suspension but you'd be wrong. They parked the bus in their end, taking just one shot in the first half and six overall.

Last season United played one of the worst 90 minutes any of us have ever seen against Brentford. They were essentially begging the Bees to put them away. But Brentford took just three shots in the second half, sat deep in their own box, and watched as Scott McTominay punished them for that. Saturday was easily the best performance Thomas Frank's side put on at Old Trafford and that's saying something, they had just two shots in the second half!

There was nothing new from United in this match. Out of possession, the various holes were still there. When Brentford broke United's press it seemed like they did it easily.

This situation seemed to sum up exactly who United are and who Brentford are. United let the wide defender run free. He's ultimately picked up by Matthijs de Ligt but United never pressured the ball.

They give the defender time and space on the ball and when they're were in their shape there were various opposition players free in between the lines.

A good team will hurt you from this position. They'd take advantage of the space left by De Ligt when he picks up the deep runner and Casemiro seemingly unaware that his man could easily make a run into space. Brentford chose to recycle possession though.

That's the next step that United need to take. Things don't get easier from here and United have already dug themselves a hole in the table. They'll need to take that step fast.