September 16, (THEWILL) – Manchester United’s poor start to the season continued, as they fell to a comprehensive 3-1 defeat against high-flying Brighton and Hove Albion, at Old Trafford, on Saturday afternoon.
Despite a positive opening, United conceded against the run of play when Danny Welbeck finished past Andre Onana in the 20th minute. Rasmus Hojlund had his goal struck off by VAR in the 41st minute, as the teams went into the break with the visitors ahead.
Brighton doubled their lead early in the second half through Pascal Gross, before Joao Pedro added a third with 20 minutes remaining. Second-half substitute, Hannibal Mejbri, pulled one back late on for United, but it was too little too late. The loss leaves United with just two wins in five EPL matches this season and languishing in the bottom half of the table.
In contrast, Brighton have now won four out of five and sit just behind the top three teams of Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool. United boss, Erik ten Hag, rang the changes, but his makeshift 4-3-1-2 system initially caused Brighton problems. United lacked cutting edge and Brighton ruthlessly exploited more hesitant defending for Gross and Pedro’s goals.
Ten Hag faces a huge task to turn around his side’s fortunes after this demoralising home defeat. It gets tougher as they are away to serial Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, next as the UEFA Champions League begins. Next for Brighton is a home game against AEK Athens in the UEFA Europa League.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
