Manchester United 2-1 Brighton: 4 decisions from Solskjaer that won the game
Manchester United were out for revenge on a Saturday afternoon when they welcomed Brighton & Hove Albion to Old Trafford. In the last game against Tottenham, United had shown an impressive ability to grind out a slender 1-0 win in a tough away game and as such, Solskjaer named an almost unchanged team against Brighton on Saturday.
He started De Gea in goal, with Young, Lindelof, Jones, and Dalot making up the back four. Herrera, Matic, and Pogba continued in the middle, as did Rashford, Lingard, and Martial in the front.
United piled on the pressure on the away side right from the start and got the lead in the 27th minute though Pogba's spot kick. Rashford then doubled the lead in the 42nd minute with a brilliantly taken goal. The home team went into the break with a 2-0 lead.
However, United took their foot off the pedal in the second half and after a few missed chances, allowed Brighton to get back into the game. While the away team kept trying till the end, United held on to get all three points.
It was not the most memorable performances from Solskjaer's side, especially in the second half, but these 4 decisions from the Norwegian allowed United to win the game.
#4 Consistency with team selection
Solskjaer had his intentions right when he decided not to alter a winning combination. However, Luke Shaw had to be replaced by Dalot, who surprisingly, started at left back.
But it turned out to be an attempt by the Norwegian to make as little change as possible to the team that had showed amazing maturity and relentlessness against Spurs. It was an effort to ensure the players were comfortable with the people around them and in the end it helped Unitedly massively on the night.
The team work was evident and the understanding looked better. United did give Brighton a lot of room on the counter in the later parts of the game, but the experience and the anticipation of the United players were spot on. This had been aided by making very little change to the team and by getting his team right, Solskjaer took the first step to winning his seventh game in charge.