Match Review: Brighton 3-2 Manchester United
If a week is a long time in politics, then it is a bloody eternity in football. Eight days after Brighton and Hove Albion went to Watford and put in one of their most soul sapping displays since promotion to the Premier League, they outfought and outclassed Manchester United to win 3-2. Football, bloody hell as United’s most successful ever manager once said.
Jose Mourinho’s Red Devils are miles away from the sides that Sir Alex Fergusson used to send out in terms of style and desire. Much of the focus after the game has been on how poor United were and how long Mourinho has got left at the helm at Old Trafford.
Well, bollocks to that. The reason that United were beaten was because Brighton were brilliant. Three goals in 19 minutes at the end of the first half blew United away. Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, David De Gea, Fred and all these other world class players were outclassed by a Brighton side featuring just one of Chris Hughton’s summer signings.
Hughton’s team selection came in for plenty of criticism before the game. There were only two changes from that dire showing at Vicarage Road and one of those was enforced, the injured Bruno being replaced by Martin Montoya at right back. The unforced change saw Gaetan Bong replace Bernardo in the opposite full back position.
That meant that Solly March started, a controversial decision at 3.50pm given that he was the main fall guy for the previous weeks defeat. By 5.50pm, it was readily evident why Hughton is the one being paid a handsome sum by Tony Bloom to manage the team and we are the ones receiving 237 emails from Paul Barber saying that you can’t take your own food into Dick’s Bar. His decision to keep the faith was more than vindicated, especially in March who put in a man-of-the-match showing.
From the outset, the Albion took the game to United although it looked like that impressive start would be disrupted when Lewis Dunk’s afternoon came to a premature end after 20 minutes. The Albion captain miss controlled the ball and then had to put in a sliding challenge to attempt to recover it, during which he damaged an ankle. He did try to play on, but was soon replaced by Leon Balogun.
Dunk was seen leaving the Amex on crutches with his foot in a protective boot which sounds like he could be out for some time. If the Albion release a statement saying he’ll be out “for a few days”, then we should see him back sometime in 2020.
Balogun was excellent on his debut, slotting in seamlessly. United’s only real chance of the first 30 minutes came when Pogba played in Lukaku but the Belgian’s finish was woeful, crashing into the advertising boards to the left of Maty Ryan’s near post.
March was the architect of the Albion’s opener, delivering a perfect low cross into the box to Glenn Murray who produced the deftest of flicks to completely bamboozle David De Gea. It was improvisation at it’s very, very best and a goal we’d be saying replayed countless times had it been scored by a 21-year-old wonder kid from Brazil rather than a 34-year-old from just south of Carlisle. Just like Brighton’s performance though, Murray’s finish will go under the radar.
That seemed to shock United and the second arrived just two minutes later. We had to wait 29 games last season to see the Albion score their one and only goal from a corner. This season, we’ve done it within two. Pascal Gross’ original delivery came back out to him and he was able to send the ball back into the box where a little bit of pinball broke out before Shane Duffy fired home.
United’s marking from that set piece was nearly as bad as Brighton’s. We say nearly, because on 34 minutes Lukaku was left completely unmarked to head home a Luke Shaw delivery after the Albion had failed to deal with a corner. Hughton said at the recent Fans Forum that they’d been working hard on defending set pieces over the summer, but that made it two goals out of three conceded so far this season from corners.
Brighton quickly restored their two goal advantage when Eric Bailly, a complete liability all afternoon, bought down Gross in the box. The German dusted himself down to take the resulting penalty which De Gea got his legs to but couldn’t quite divert over the bar.
United made a double change at the break with two of England’s World Cup Squad in Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford entering the proceedings. It made little difference though as the Albion controlled the second half, putting in a composed defensive showing as United failed to break through with Davy Propper in particular outstanding. Hopefully, the Dutchman remembered to remove Pogba from his pocked before he went to bed on Sunday night.
The visitors pulled another back in the 94th minute when Duffy clumsily bought down Marouane Fellaini in the box and Pogba was momentarily allowed to escape Propper and Stephens to score from the spot. Not that many United fans were there to witness it, the so-called “best away supporters in the country” having long since abandoned the South Stand of the Amex, no doubt keen to avoid the M25 traffic on their way back to their homes in Guildford and Basingstoke.
As for the Albion faithful, well we partied long into the night to celebrate another famous win. The pundits might want to focus on how bad United were, but this was all about Brighton. What a difference a week makes.
