Brighton 3-2 Manchester United: 5 areas where Jose Mourinho lost the battle to Chris Hughton's side
Manchester United travelled to Amex Stadium to face Brighton on Saturday. Interestingly, Sanchez did not travel with the squad, sparking rumours about dissent. However, it was later clarified that the Chilean was injured in training and was not risked.
In the absence of Sanchez, Mourinho opted for Martial from the left. Lukaku replaced the ineffective Rashford and Young started in place of Darmian. Those were the 3 changes from the team that started the game against Leicester.
Manchester United XI: De Gea; Young, Bailly, Lindelof, Shaw; Fred, Pereira, Pogba; Mata, Lukaku, Martial.
Chris Hughton opted for Montoya in place of his injured skipper Bruno and brought in Bong in place of Bernardo at left-back, in the only 2 changes from the side that were beaten by Watford last weekend.
Brighton & Hove Albion XI: Ryan; Montoya, Duffy, Dunk, Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, March; Grob; Murray.
Brighton showed right from the start that they were full of intent and desire. There was a lot of commitment from the players and United never looked alive. Brighton deservedly took the lead when Murray stunned United in the 25th minute. 2 minutes later, they were 2-0 up when Duffy scored.
United did get a goal back when Luke Shaw’s deflected shot was turned in by Lukaku in the 34th minute. It seemed that United would start a comeback, but Bailly conceded a penalty just a minute before the half time break and Gross scored from the spot to make it 3-1.
In the first half, United had 4 shots, with only 1 of them on target. On the contrary, Brighton had 6 shots, with 3 of them on target. United had 62% possession, attempted 264 passes with 87% accuracy, but in reality, they were very poor.
At the break, Mourinho brought in Rashford and Lingard in place of Mata and Pereira. He later brought in Fellaini for Martial. But things hardly changed, not until the 94th minute when United won a penalty and Pogba scored to make the result a little more respectable.
Brighton and Hove Albion were the deserved winners of the game and we look at 5 areas where United lost the game to Brighton.
#5 Pressing from Brighton
Right from the start, Brighton pressed as if their lives depended on it. They gave United no room, they gave United no time on the ball and seemed so full of running that it almost stunned the Red Devils. United were slow on the counter and Brighton capitalized.
Pogba, Fred and Pereira were all caught on the ball, as were the rest of the United team. Shaw was one of United’s better players on the pitch and even he was constantly pressed by Knockaert. As a result of their intense pressing, Brighton caused United to lose the ball quite often.
United had no answer to Brighton’s pressing in the first half and even after the changes in the second half, Brighton’s pressing kept United in the backfoot. It was from their pressing and their high-intensity gameplay that Brighton found their goals