Ralf Rangnick has insisted there is still competition for places at Manchester United despite January departures from the club.
20.01.2022 - 04:03 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Watching Manchester United has become a chore of late for their matchgoers but they were finally rewarded. The infectious enthusiasm of Anthony Elanga's celebration was worth the admission price and overnight stay in London at a couple of weeks' notice.
Elanga, still 19, is destined to become this season's academy breakout at United and it is not a coincidence he has had greater exposure in the near-immediate aftermath of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal. Every United manager has an academy legacy; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had Mason Greenwood, Louis van Gaal Marcus Rashford and Rangnick's is Elanga. All three scored.
The 19-year-old manipulated Fred's lofted pass masterly, gathering it on the bounce and leaping to nod it past Jonas Lossl. It was the United fans' good fortune the ball lofted into the net adjacent to their corner. Elanga demanded more noise from those in paroxysms of jubilation and was soon smothered by them.
One cannot underestimate the significance of Elanga's nimble footwork in the 55th minute. This was in danger of descending into another inquest until the Swede, effectively an adopted Mancunian, drained Brentford of belief.
This is what away days used to feel like for those United loyalists. They were brilliantly backed again by their travelling supporters yet served up a familiarly supine away-day performance in the first-half.
In almost every domestic away fixture this season, United have been unsettled by the presence of home supporters and many players have been rumbled. The unbeaten away streak last season was as false as United's second-place finish.
Remarkably, a tight contest ended as a procession. Brentford were profligate during their dominant period and United were potent during theirs. Their
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