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Beesotted’s Jim Levack looks back at the heartbreaking end to the Manchester United match as well as the bigger picture as Brentford struggle for points this season.

Thomas Frank’s mantra of dwelling on defeat for just 24 hours will surely be tested to the limit by the cruelty of the late Old Trafford kick in the guts.

For all their superhuman efforts and ‘bodies on the line’ defending, you get nothing for being an heroic loser. This was a result that will sting.

“Brutal” was how Thomas described it afterwards, and he was right. Brentford’s low block was effective, well organised and built around 100% commitment from the players.

Ethan Pinnock and Kris Ajer were quite rightly touted as man mountains by The Athletic’s excellent Jay Harris, but his assertion that he “couldn’t believe how we lost that” tells only half the story.

Every man in turquoise gave everything, but ultimately this is a side that, through injuries and the absence of Ivan Toney, is sometimes creating its own problems in stages of certain games.

I counted almost two dozen occasions when clearances were hoofed into the channels to no one in particular, inviting wave after wave of United attacks. By the law of averages, they were always going to get a break.

I don’t share Thomas’s view that this was seven minutes from being the perfect away performance.

Yes, we defended brilliantly, but it was an edge of the seat watch against a side painfully low on confidence, although they did have a 12th man in card-wielding Bees hater Andy Madley.

And there’s the problem. The thin line between success and failure in games like this is luck (we’re having none but that will change), bravery (we’re still showing enough of that) and someone to hold the ball up to give the defence a break.

We currently have a world class centre forward sitting on the sidelines, through no one’s fault but his own. His physical presence and ability to hold the ball up would surely have won that game for us.

His actions – or those of his new agents – would suggest he wants away. And on a purely personal level, it’s galling that that he hasn’t yet publicly apologised to the fans or made any kind of commitment to the club that has stood by him so steadfastly.

The United game crystalised our current funk, and the bottom line is that the failure to replace Toney, either with a similarly physical loan or permanent signing, is now costing us dear.

Two keepers on the bench and three B Teamers pitched in to a misfiring squad point to a worrying lack of strength in depth that the knee-jerkers fear will end in relegation.

That’s nonsense – hopefully – because some of the football we play is right up there. But the transfer dealings are a concern. Case in point the pursuit of Brennan Johnson, which was borderline farcical as we repeatedly chased a player that Forest and Steve Cooper clearly had no intention of selling to us.

While the bids piled up and a daily Rolodex of names appeared in the media, we waited and waited… and waited. In came Saman Ghoddos and Neal Maupay, both decent signings, but definitely not what we needed as a priority for games at places like Old Trafford.

Admittedly, long term injuries haven’t helped and that’s more bad luck, but it’s telling that it’s the players signed in the Championship who are looking the best value right now.

That’s no reflection on Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade, who will 100% develop into superb signings. The problem is more that now we’re in our third season, our captures need to be Premier League ready – and that doesn’t fit our model, because you need to pay more.

It’s so easy to say spend a few extra million – it’s not my money – and get the deals over the line at the outset, but it seems we’re just not quite ready for the new, larger pool we’re fishing in.

Take Keane Lewis-Potter. A season flying in the Championship and he’d have been good to go in the top flight. As it is, Thomas is having to blood him judiciously in a side that’s performing well without getting results, and that’s not fair on us or the player.

So the Ivan Toney conundrum is hurting us right now. If he goes, he goes with our blessing for helping us get us here in the first place.

But if he does, there can be no room for error in our January transfer dealings because the “getting good value” defence could see us sleepwalk into an unnecessary survival scrap.

A ready-made ‘hold it up, give defenders a headache’ replacement – my opinion only – at the start of the window will be essential if we’re to start turning heroic displays like Saturday’s into three points rather than none.

For now though I’m so incredibly proud of a side who gave absolutely everything against the 12 men and blinkered Man Utd-loving media, and know it will turn our way very soon.

Jim Levack