Brentford boss Thomas Frank felt the referee made the right call when telling Matthijs de Ligt to leave the pitch before his side scored from a corner at Old Trafford.
De Ligt was asked to leave the pitch for treatment on a head wound for the third time in first-half stoppage time and Brentford made the numerical advantage count when Ethan Pinnock headed in.
United’s players and coaching staff were furious at referee Sam Barrott and fourth official Gavin Ward, but Frank felt they were only following the rules and said if the situation had been reversed then the hosts would have wanted to take advantage as well.
“I think it is good refereeing, if I am honest,” he said. “If Manchester United took the corner and we took out Nathan Collins because he was bleeding, they would want to take the corner.”
The anger fuelled United’s second-half comeback, however, and Alejandro Garnacho equalised within two minutes of the restart and Rasmus Hojlund netted a winner just after the hour mark.
Frank said his side were aware that a reaction would be forthcoming but also praised United’s key men for their role in inspiring the turnaround.
“A lot of their key players stepped up second half,” he said. “We knew they would come out flying, we were way too passive. The momentum changed. We lacked, if not confidence, then quality.
“We definitely performed a good first half and felt we were the best team in that half. Definitely opposite second half Manchester United was clearly the better team.
“Disappointed the second half we weren’t able to do better. To concede a goal after two minutes disappoints me and the momentum just changed. They got on top. We lacked the quality we had in the first half and second half too many of our players didn’t hit our highest level and we need to hit our highest level if we want to beat Man United.”
Frank also joked that his team had to practice the coin toss after they lost it for the second game running and were unable to add to their impressive record of four goals within the first 75 seconds of games this season.