Manchester United's former goalkeeper Ben Foster has explained the simple tactic that allowed Watford to beat them last season.
Erik ten Hag did not have the dream start that he was hoping for as United manager as his side lost 2-1 to Brighton at Old Trafford last weekend. The Dutchman will be focusing all his efforts this week on ensuring his side put in a much-improved performance against Brentford on Saturday that can get them back to winning ways.
There are just three weeks left in the transfer window and United are still looking to strengthen their squad in a number of positions. Across the pitch, Ten Hag is looking to bring in more first-team players and those that can improve their squad depth as the congested Premier League fixture list comes in to force later in the season.
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The Brighton defeat came as a surprise to a lot of fans - but former United player Foster saw the result coming. He revealed the strategy that allowed Watford to take four of the six points available from their two league matches against the Reds last season which saw them win 4-1 at Vicarage Road and draw 0-0 at Old Trafford.
Foster told talkSPORT : “When you’re playing someone like Man United you’ve just got to go up against them.
“They have got quality players but if you get up into them they will struggle a little bit and that’s always the way that we tried to approach those games.
“Going back to Liverpool and Man City, we would be scared about trying to get up into their faces, because they have got so much more technical ability to play it round you and if they get behind you - you’re struggling, full stop.
“The home game was great that we won 4-1 but I’d say it was the away game that was the most telling because we went away to Old Trafford, bearing in mind we were a struggling team last season, but we made a point of getting in their faces.
“The longer the game went on the more Manchester United fans would get onto the Manchester United players’ backs and you could feel this sort of atmosphere and that’s what’s wrong with it at the minute.
“There’s a little bit of an atmosphere and around Old Trafford where they’re used to winning, they’ve got [Cristiano] Ronaldo back in the ranks expecting to still be scoring hat-tricks and it’s not quite working like that at the minute.”
The 39-year-old left Watford last season at the end of his contract and the free agent explained how he saw the Brighton defeat coming as he followed the game live.
He said: “Manchester United in general are vulnerable. I watched the game on Saturday and I predicted before the game that Manchester United would lose the game.
“Fair play to Brighton, they’ve lost a couple of massive players, [Marc] Cucurella, [Yves] Bissouma going as well, and you would expect it to have taken a toll on them.
“They went there and they played the way Graham Potter gets them playing and they looked technically just as good as Man United if not better and that’s the worrying part when a team like Brighton comes to Old Trafford and looks just as good as Man United.”
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