Match Review: Brighton 0-3 Manchester United
When Graham Potter appeared on Sky Sports prior to Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Manchester United, it was with a haircut that it looked like his wife had given him.
His team selection and first half tactics might well have been supplied by Mrs Potter too. Not for the first time this season, Potter chose a starting lineup and approach which led to an abysmal showing that cost Brighton any chance of taking something from the game.
The Albion manager again found himself chucking his initial game plan out the window at half time. There was a much improved second half but the damage had already been done as the Albion’s excellent form since the Premier League restart came to a crashing end.
Some Brighton fans tried to excuse the first half performance by pointing to who the opposition were – and while the Albion were up against a Manchester United side in scintillating form, that still doesn’t excuse Potter’s team selection, which was weirder than anything Micky Adams ever produced, and he played Adam Virgo on the right wing.
You have got a teenage right back who has just given a man-of-the-match performance in marking Jamie Vardy and James Maddison out of the game in his full Premier League debut, so what does Potter do with him? Play him on the right wing.
Tariq Lamptey went from looking like the next Cafu last week to being hauled at half time this week. Shades of the famous Abdul Razak‘s first couple of games in an Albion shirt.
Harry Maguire is one of the most dominant centre backs in the air in the world. How does Potter try and put him under pressure? By smashing balls in the air to a 20-year-old, 5’4 centre forward playing as a lone striker who hasn’t scored since October.
You sometimes get the feeling that Potter is trying too hard to live up to this reputation he is meant to have as a tactical genius, making changes for the sake of changes.
Four points from Arsenal and Leicester – two tough opponents in their own rights – should have had Brighton purring with confidence and provided a blueprint for how to take on opponents with top four ambitions.
Instead, Potter throws all that out the window with players out of position and an isolated Aaron Connolly given a thankless task.
Once he abandoned his abysmal tactical plan at half time, introduced Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard and switched back to the 4-2-2-2 which has proven relatively successful this season, Brighton were suddenly a match for United and might have pulled a couple back were it not for some smart stops from David De Gea in the second half.
Unfortunately, the game was long gone by then. United were the best side that the Albion have faced since Manchester City back in August, and when you come up against opponents that good then you have to be at the top of your game to stand a chance of taking anything.
Brighton weren’t, too many players gave below par performances and the result was a 0-3 scoreline and 90 minutes in which Manchester United were deserved and easy winners.
The first goal that the Albion conceded summed their lethargic approach up. Dale Stephens was caught the wrong side of Mason Greenwood; Yves Bissouma looked like he couldn’t be bothered to track the United winger back; Lewis Dunk backed off and off like a bloke in a forest who has just come across a grizzly bear rather than an England hopeful defender up against a teenage opponent; and then Maty Ryan was beaten at his near post.
Ryan seems to have developed something of a weakness there this season, although the criticism he was pelted with for United’s second was harsh as there was a big deflection which took Bruno Fernandes’ shot away.
More deserving of ire for that goal were the defensive efforts down the right hand side. Even with Martin Montoya and Lamptey patrolling that area – presumably, Potter’s selection of two right backs was to prevent Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford dominating down that side – United still managed to release Luke Shaw.
His low cross found its way to Fernandes on the edge of the box. Bissouma was again far too slow to react, giving the Portuguese playmaker the time he needed to get off a shot which hit a Brighton player on the way through to beat the despairing dive of Ryan.
Replays showed that the ball had gone out of play in the build up to that goal and there were also questions of offside against Shaw after he had brushed his way past Lamptey, Montoya and Davy Propper.
Nobody could say that United didn’t deserve to go into the break 2-0 ahead though, De Gea having been so under worked that he could have brought out a deckchair, had a cigar and read most of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
At that point, a cricket score looked like it might have been on the cards. All that talk about Brighton’s goal difference being worth an extra point could look very silly, especially with Liverpool and City to play in the next 11 days.
Brighton were much improved after the interval once Potter had hauled Lamptey and Propper for Trossard and Maupay, doing more in the first 120 seconds of the second half than they had in the whole 45 minutes of the first.
Unfortunately, that new positive approach was ruthlessly exposed with 50 minutes on the clock via one of the most breathtaking counter attacking goals you will ever see.
Bissouma tossed a hopeful ball into the United box which Maguire won with a dominant header. Less than 30 seconds later and Nemanja Matic had volleyed a brilliant pass out to Greenwood, he charged up the left wing and dinked the ball to the back post where Fernandes arrived to send a crashing volley past Maty Ryan. Brighton 0-3 Manchester United.
Game over it may have been, but Brighton had chances after that with Connolly and Maupay forcing David De Gea to put his book down to make two decent saves.
Trossard flashed a couple of shots inches wide with De Gea beaten. It was a lively showing from the Belgian, more evidence that he is much more effective coming off the bench than when starting games. His performance was one of the few positives that Brighton could take from their 0-3 defeat to Manchester United.
Dunk avoiding a booking was another. His nine yellow cards accumulated so far this season are now wiped, removing the threat of a two match ban over the remaining six games.
Potter played his part in that, removing Dunk from the action with 10 minutes to go for Bernardo. The obvious thing to do would have been to move Dan Burn to his natural position of centre half and use Bernardo in his natural position of left back, but nobody was that surprised when Potter elected instead to play the two defenders the other way around.
In his post game interview, Potter gave his normal speech about learning and improving. Wouldn’t it be nice if he actually listened to himself and learnt that you don’t have to come up with some super duper master plan for every game? Sometimes, you can trust in your best side to go out and get results.
That is what Brighton had done since the Premier League restarted in their 2-1 win over Arsenal and 0-0 draw at Leicester. Those results have given the Albion four points from three tough fixtures in June.
Had you offered us that two weeks ago, we would have bitten your hand, your arm and your shoulder off. If the Albion can go and get something from Norwich City on Saturday, then the poor showing against Manchester United will be forgotten and Premier League survival all but guaranteed given the current form of the bottom five.
This being Brighton, victory at Carrow Road is of course a very big if. No more tinkering would help, Graham.
