Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag defended his side’s 1-1 draw at Brentford as Manchester City and Liverpool both struggled against them too.

The Bees had 31 shots in Saturday night’s meeting at the Gtech Community Stadium but had to rescue a point in the 99th-minute after Mason Mount had fired the visitors ahead just before, with Kristoffer Ajer coming up with the crucial and largely deserved equaliser.

Though he admitted he was not happy with United’s performance on the whole, Ten Hag pointed to a spirited Brentford displays in big games as reasons not to go over-the-top with criticism.

“Don’t lower the performances from Brentford,” Ten Hag hit back in his post-match press conference. “I have seen them against Man City and City was also lucky to win that game. And against Liverpool, in the first 35 minutes Brentford should have taken the lead, so don’t express this.

“We should have done this better, I’m not happy with the performance, there is no misunderstanding, the players are also disappointed by the performance and we should be consistent in the game, go in the game, perform and show more aggressiveness.”

City beat Brentford twice in February but laboured to victory in both games, coming from behind to win 3-1 in west London before triumphing 1-0 on home soil. Liverpool, meanwhile, withstood early pressure in a 4-1 victory at the Gtech Community Stadium in between Brentford’s defeats to City.

United also struggled to beat Brentford during the reverse fixture at Old Trafford. The Bees led through Mathias Jensen’s first-half strike before Scott McTominay scored twice in second-half stoppage time to secure a dramatic comeback victory.

In last season’s trip to Brentford, United were on the receiving end of a 4-0 hammering, with all four goals coming in a manic first half.