During the Premier League’s return after the national team gathering, coach Erik ten Hag changed quite a few personnel in the starting lineup. Sergio Reguilon started, Diogo Dalot returned to the right wing, and Wan-Bissaka sat on the bench. Rasmus Hojlund also starts in attack alongside Rashford.
With Sancho and Antony unable to register to play, MU returned to a diamond-shaped four-midfield scheme, instead of playing with a 4-3-3 formation. This has somewhat negatively affected MU’s tactical operations, especially in ball control. Brighton plays away, but they are the better team.
In the 20th minute, from a quick attack, Brighton brought the ball into the penalty area. Danny Welbeck became the finisher. He scored his old team’s goal, thereby giving Brighton the lead. MU then immediately tried to push the team higher in search of an equalizer, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
At the end of the first half, MU put the ball into the net from Hojlund’s close-range shot. However, after consulting VAR technology, the referee determined that Rashford pushed the ball out of the field before passing it in for Hojlund to finish. 1-0 in favor of Brighton was also the score that ended the first half of the match.
Entering the second half, Brighton soon doubled the gap by Pascal Gross. In the 70th minute, substitute striker Joao Pedro increased the score to 3-0. Seeing that the home team was 3 goals ahead, many MU spectators left early, even when Hannibal Mejbri’s beautiful long-range shot shortened the gap to 1-3.
Minutes later, MU tried to strengthen the attack by sending Garnacho onto the field. However, the home team’s efforts could not help them score more goals. The match ended with a final defeat of 1-3 in favor of the home team at Old Trafford. This result keeps them mired in the bottom half of the rankings after the 5th round.
Line up:
MU: Onana; Reguilon, Lindelof, Martinez, Dalot; Casemiro, Eriksen; McTominay, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund.Brighton: Steele; Lamptey, Van Hecke, Dunk, Veltman; Gross, Lallana, Dahoud; Welbeck Mitoma, Adingra.
