Manchester United suffered a late defeat against Brighton thanks to Joao Pedro’s 95th minute winner.
The Red Devils started their season last week with a late win against Fulham but this week, they were the subject of a late winner from the Seagulls.
Former Man United player Danny Welbeck had given Brighton the lead, which was cancelled by a goal from Amad Diallo.
Alejandro Garnacho thought he had given Man United the lead but the VAR ruled out his goal as the ball touched striker Joshua Zirkzee before going in, who was in an offside position.
Joao Pedro found himself unmarked in the box late in the game, surprisingly, and he made sure to finish the easy chance that he got by scoring past Andre Onana.
Erik ten Hag was visibly upset after the match and blamed three players who could have stopped the cross coming into the box that led to the goal.
In his post match interview, he said, as quoted by the Daily Mail:
‘We have to learn.
‘It is so unnecessary if you protect the goal like we do and then drop points.
‘There were so many things in that moment. We have to talk and be aligned in such moments about what to do. Everyone knows their job and as a team we protect our goal.
‘We didn’t stop the cross (from Simon Adingra). There were three players, right-footed players, who should have sent him down the line and not allowed the cross.
‘We have to talk about how we act in that situation as a team. There was more than one mistake on that occasion and that had a big impact on the score.
‘We conceded two soft goals where we should act better as a team.’
The manager has some work to do to make his team’s defense better because it looked like Man United have learned nothing from last season.
They kept conceding silly goals last season and it feels like they are doing the same this season.
Man United need changes at the back for stability
Perhaps it is time to start Matthijs de Ligt, who has come on as a substitute in both the matches so far.
Harry Maguire’s awareness for the first goal should have been better while a number of players were responsible for the second goal.
It is not a good sign for ten Hag and Man United to be this weak defensively so early in the season.
Leave a Reply