Manchester United started their season well in their first two official matches of the campaign, but in their third, some of the same old problems resurfaced, as the Red Devils lost 2-1 to Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
The Saturday clash had seen some positives and negatives, but it is the hosts who claimed the win in the 95th minute, thanks to Joao Pedro’s goal. Here is what we learned from this match.
Meek Defence Loses The Match
Man United conceded twice in this match and both times after their mistakes and after allowing the opposition too much time and space to do what they wanted to do. After 32 minutes, former Man United forward Danny Welbeck opened the scoring, but not before United’s duo of Noussair Mazraoui and Harry Maguire reacted too meekly on a previous cross. The ball should have been kicked out then, before Mitoma’s cross could have ever found Welbeck alone on the far post. And just before the second goal, when United struggled to clear the ball following a corner, it was Diogo Dalot and Mazraoui who were standing in the middle of the penalty area in front of Adingra, giving him all the time to pick his cross for match-winning goal, rather than rushing to close him down and take the ball off him in a 2-v-1 situation.
United Unlucky Not To Win
It is odd that Man United lost this match and have not created more in terms of expected goals, but that they could feel unlucky they did not win. The reason for this was the late disallowed goal. Just minutes after Amad Diallo scored the equaliser, it was Alejandro Garnacho who though he had scored a tap-in from a Bruno Fernandes cutback. That was surely it, but then it turned out the ball had hit Joshua Zirkzee in his knee right on the goal-line, meaning he had interfered with the ball from an offside position. Following the VAR intervention, the goal was ruled out and this luck allowed Brighton the chance for them to go on and win the match.
Diallo’s Directness A Big Plus
Amad Diallo’s performances at the beginning of the season have proven Erik Ten Hag correct in terms of giving him the chance to be the starting right winger. That was not a tough decision, if the other options were Antony and Jadon Sancho, but Diallo has done so well again. Against Brighton, his directness was a problem for Jack Hinshelwood, who struggled to keep up. Amad’s run for the first goal had shown what a confident attacker should be doing, and he also managed to create another good chance for the Devils soon afterwards. We will be seeing more of him in the starting 11.
Mount Lacks Impact
And finally, one of the players not being talked too much about is Mason Mount. In his second Premier League match of the season, he started once more as the attacking midfielder behind Bruno Fernandes, and once again he struggled to make an impact. In that first half, he made mere 22 touches of the ball, he did not create anything, made one shot from a not so great position and lost the ball five times. It was no surprise when Ten Hag subbed him off for Joshua Zirkzee, so he could pull Bruno back to his primary position.
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