Manchester United 2-1 Brighton And Hove Albion: Three Things We Learned

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Manchester United were back in action this Sunday after a two-week break due to international duties and they were back with a win. After a 3-1 loss in the FA Cup quarterfinal a fortnight ago, the Red Devils managed to get past Brighton and Hove Albion after a late start, winning the match 2-1.

It all started wrong for the hosts, as Brighton scored early on and it had to be former Man United player Danny Welbeck. He opened the scoring before the half-hour mark, with the Devils making their usual second-half comeback. Marcus Rashford equalised just after the first hour of the match, with Mason Greenwood being team’s saviour after he scored the winner with just under 10 minutes to go.

This was far from an ideal performance from Manchester United, but the three points are in the bag and the Devils are getting closer and closer to finishing the season in second place.

United Not Clinical Enough Early On

Despite the fact they conceded after just 13 minutes of play, Man United actually started the match well. They dominated in possession and were making early moves into Brighton’s penalty area. However, the team was not clinical enough in those minutes of dominance.

Mason Greenwood managed to hit the post, before Brighton got their opener. From then on things got much tougher, as Man United players failed to stop Brighton’s counter-attack on a few different occasions, before Welbeck scored.

Man United Players Not At Their Best

For some time now it has been obvious that Bruno Fernandes has not been at his best, even when he managed to get on the scoresheet. He was not his usual self playing for Portugal either and there were other examples in United’s team. Pogba’s performance was sloppy despite the fact he managed to get an assist, while Edinson Cavani was substituted without doing very much.

Also, Marcus Rashford did not seem at his best before he scored United’s first goal, but there is also a lot more context to all of this. Rashford had injury problems, Cavani missed a big part of recent part of the campaign for the same reason and Fernandes’ dip in form has been obvious in 2021, which he could be excused for due to an incredible output he has produced ever since joining the club.

Van De Beek Is Still Not Getting His Chances

Man United fans are always looking eagerly to see how much playing time Donny van de Beek is going to get in each game. Before this match, there was plenty of praise for the Dutchman from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but despite that, he only got to play for the final ten minutes of the game. It begs a question which type of opponent will finally be the chance to see Van de Beek feature in the starting lineup? Does it have to be a much weaker side for Solskjaer to let him start? Brighton had seemed like a possible answer, due to the fact they are a team that likes to play a bit more than the other sides in the bottom half of the league…

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