Erik ten Hag made a disastrous start to life as Manchester United manager as his side were beaten at Old Trafford by Brighton.
The Seagulls had never won at United's home ground before but turned in an impressive performance to undermine Ten Hag's work in pre-season. United rallied somewhat in the second half could couldn't force an equaliser.
United should have taken the lead early on, but Bruno Fernandes got underneath a deflected cut-back from Scott McTominay to blaze over the bar. Brighton made the hosts pay when Leandro Trossard and Danny Welbeck combined down the left to set up a tap-in for Pascal Gross at the back post.
Nine minutes later it went from bad to worse, with Brighton springing a fantastic counter-attack from their own corner flag which was converted when Gross turned in a rebound after Solly March tested David de Gea.
United finally found some momentum after the break, with Cristiano Ronaldo thrown on by Ten Hag, as Christian Eriksen’s crossing caused problems. Robert Sanchez made a brilliant save one-on-one from Marcus Rashford before undoing all his hard work in comical circumstances.
Sanchez made a mess of a corner and before getting in Alexis Mac Allister’s way as he tried to clear, causing him to score an own goal. With the Old Trafford crowd now behind the home side, it was largely one-way traffic in the closing stages, but a brilliant block by Lewis Dunk prevented Lisandro Martinez from scoring on debut.
Here are Mirror Football's winners and losers from a dramatic match at Old Trafford.
WINNERS
Graham Potter
Brighton began their Premier League season on Sunday without, arguably, their two best players from last season. Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella have been sold to Tottenham and Chelsea respectively, for a collective total of around £87million. They are yet to reinvest that money, with no new players in the starting line-up, but you wouldn’t know it watching Potter’s side at Old Trafford. It has become a bit of a cliche to remark upon the job Potter is doing with Brighton, to say he’s a future England manager in the making and tout him for ‘bigger’ jobs. It does him a bit of a disservice, but is reflective of his reputation being on the rise. There was only one side playing Total Football and it wasn’t United.
Pascal Gross
Brighton is a team completely void of egos and established stars and their collective ability was represented by Gross. The German utility player was positioned in a free-ranging No10 role by Potter and flourished, finishing off both Brighton moves in the first half. Gross has a history against United, having scored against teams managed by Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick. He has now added Ten Hag to that list.
Cristiano Ronaldo
He may have started the game on the bench. Most of his action for the first 50 minutes may have come in grumbling facial expressions and arm waving. And his side may have ended up losing. But this was still a positive day for Ronaldo, in terms of his personal objectives. It took until the 53rd minute for Ten Hag to turn to the 37-year-old striker and his introduction certainly made a difference. Ronaldo’s bending run and cross would have earned him an assist, had it not been for Sanchez’s excellent save (and perhaps the offside flag). If he does stay, he can rest assured that, with Anthony Martial injured, Mason Greenwood unavailable and Edinson Cavani gone, he is the best option Ten Hag has as a central striker.
LOSERS
Erik ten Hag
Ten Hag made headlines right from the off, with his decision to leave Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench. That was positive in the eyes of many, following the striker’s very public throwing of toys out of pram, but everything that followed was not. There are many caveats worth pointing out first: it’s the first game, he hasn’t been given the players he wanted in the transfer window and he inherited lots of endemic problems. But this was still a shambolic start to life in the hot seat. United were torn apart on the counter-attack by Brighton, with the supposed shape of the side all over the place. This is just the start of the process, but lots of improvement is needed – and that should start from the former Ajax coach.
McFred
“All over the place.” That was Roy Keane’s half-time assessment and he was spot-on. Upon seeing the team sheet for the opening game of the season, lots of United fans were struck by one thing: why, after many many transfer windows, have we been left with Scott McTominay and Fred as our midfield pivot? It’s a pertinent question which was highlighted for the umpteenth time against Brighton. United’s midfield was disorganised, erratic and simply lacking in composure and quality. The fluidity Ten Hag encouraged saw McTominay charging forward at every opportunity – and while that created the early chance for Fernandes it also inflicted a lot of unnecessary turnovers. It was Fred who was taken off to bring Ronaldo on, but it could easily have been his midfield partner. The pursuit of Frenkie de Jong has dragged on and on; this was a clear result of it.
Luke Shaw
United have signed Tyrell Malacia to provide competition at left-back while sending Alex Telles off on loan to Sevilla for the season. After this game it would be no surprise to see the new signing become United’s first-choice left-back. Shaw looked sluggish when defending, while also lacking his customary attacking skill going the other way. The first goal was not entirely his fault – he probably had to follow Adam Lallana’s run – but it was his man, Gross, who scored. For the second goal, he was nowhere near tight enough on March, who was allowed to drift inside and shoot at goal.
