Christian Eriksen sends stern message to Manchester United teammates after embarrassing 3-1 defeat
Christian Eriksen sent a stern message to his fellow Manchester United teammates after the Red Devils suffered a 3-1 Premier League defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford on Saturday (September 16).
Goals from Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross and Joao Pedro gave the Seagulls a 3-0 lead before Hannibal Mejbri pulled one back, which turned out to be a mere consolation.
Erik ten Hag's team have now lost two straight games and three in their five league outings this season. They have just six points from five games and are 13th in the league table.
Danish midfielder Eriksen was part of a four-man midfield, starting alongside Casemiro, Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes. Reacting to the embarrassing defeat against Brighton, Eriksen told the BBC Match of the Day (as per Daily Mail):
"It is a heavy one. We have to look at ourselves. We changed some thingsm but we are disappointed. In the first half, we had a lot of moments, had good control. They had a lot of possession but not many chances."
He added:
"They then score with their first chance and the system they play they keep the ball a lot and we had to chase it down. But we still had chances to get back into the game."
Manchester United have failed to show their best form this season. Their start to the campaign is somewhat akin to that of last season, where they lost their opening two games.
Manager Erik ten Hag was also booed by fans when he replaced newly signed Rasmus Hojlund with Anthony Martial in the second half.
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen's game against Brighton by the numbers
Christian Eriksen played the full 90 minutes of Manchester United's defeat against Brighton. He completed 49 of his 55 attempted passes, posting an 89% accuracy.
The Dane completed one cross and was successful in both his dribble attempts. Moreover, Eriksen also won four ground duels and completed a tackle for his team.
While it was a laudable effort from the 31-year-old for his team, the Red Devils were disappointing as a team. The pressure is now piling on Erik ten Hag ahead of a daunting trip to Bayern Munich on Wednesday (September 20) in their UEFA Champions League opener.