Opposition View: Manchester United
Brighton and Hove Albion couldn’t have asked for a much tougher start to their 2018-19 home campaign, with last seasons Premier League runners up Manchester United the first visitors to the Amex.
It’s been a strange summer at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho seems to have spent it in a permanent mood while United have been considerably less busy in the transfer market than the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.
In order to find out whether United can challenge for the title, we spoke to Jimmy Williams from fanzine Red News. He also gave us his thoughts on whether Mourinho would see out the season, how far United are behind Manchester City, Jesse Lingard and which Brighton player he’d want to see at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho seems to have spent this summer in a particularly bad mood. What’s that all about and do you think he will survive the season?
Manchester United’s pre-season tour of the United States was a pretty underwhelming one. United were obviously missing a lot of first team players due to being involved in the latter stages of the World Cup and Jose Mourinho was pretty vocal with regards to his frustrations. He was forced into playing a lot of the younger players due to lack of options and he has since said they will more than likely not play much of a role this season; Andreas Pereira being the exception. Having said that, I personally did not agree with his comments regarding the United youngsters and I question his man-management at times to be honest. In addition, it is clear that United are a few signings short of winning the title. The opening game against Leicester only reinforced that for me. Having watched that game, I think it is no surprise why he was so intent on adding a right-winger to the squad. Moreover, Matteo Darmian proved once again he is not up to the job. Jose Mourinho gave Ed Woodward a list of targets months ago and the recruitment process this summer has been a bit of a shambles. I think Fred will be a good signing, but Dalot looks like one for the future; I’m not sure how much we will see of him this season. Further, there is no doubt that Mourinho feels let down by the United board. The closing days of the transfer window just showed how bad things are with links to several defenders but we were never even close to signing one. I sense all is not well between Mourinho and the board and that probably goes a long way in explaining his perceived demeanour. I fully expect Mourinho to see out the season although it does look a bit familiar from the outside looking in; we have seen this before at Chelsea and we know how it ends. I am hoping he rises to the challenge and proves everybody wrong, but it will be difficult if we don’t start well.
Manchester City and Liverpool look on paper the two outstanding sides in the division. Can United challenge them?
Manchester City were phenomenal last season, no doubt. They broke a lot of records and played the best football in their history. They have everything in place to do well for the next number of years. With regards to Liverpool, they have recruited well this summer. They identified where their problem areas were and they got their targets in early and watched everybody else sweat. It has to be said they had a great season last year too, I fully expect them to progress further and be there or there abouts come May. The front three of Mane, Firmino and Salah are as good as any in Europe at the minute. In addition, they have good options from the bench. It is probably the strongest Liverpool team for many years; on paper at least. Having said that, I don’t believe that Manchester United are as bad as people are making out. Offensively, we have the players to blow teams away. Sanchez, Lukaku, Pogba, Rashford; quality players. For whatever reason, we haven’t seen the best of Pogba or Sanchez yet and that is a concern. That is Mourinho’s job now; he has to get the best out of these players. No more excuses. However, I think United will be in the mix, but Liverpool and City are the teams to beat.
When the Glazer’s first seized control around 2005, there were lots of protests against their ownership of the club. It all seem to have gone quiet. Do United fans still want them out and what can or has been done about it?
United fans still want the Glazers out; no question about that one. Obviously, there were a lot of protests but ultimately, that unrest is not good for the team. I am pretty confident in saying that most United fans will never accept the Glazers. Their takeover of United riddled the club with debt and that debt was paid off by money earned by the club; not money from their pocket. I have seen a lot on social media lately about starting a new protest. There are a lot of unhappy United fans after the transfer window; we may well see the green and yellow scarves around Old Trafford again in the future. I don’t think they will be too bothered though as long as they are making their money.
Brighton and United met three times last season and all the games were pretty close. What did you make of the Albion’s performances in those?
I think Chris Hughton has done a good job. Survival was the primary objective and he achieved that. In the end, they had a few games to spare too. I thought Brighton deservedly beat United in May; they looked hungrier and were quicker to every ball. Obviously, United won the FA Cup encounter but I thought they were pretty poor being honest. They looked sluggish but just about did enough, probably. In the game at Old Trafford, once again, Brighton were unlucky. It took a lucky own goal from Dunk to win the game. Brighton matched United for 90 minutes and I thought Anthony Knockaert and Pascal Gross looked dangerous that day.
If you had to give Chris Hughton one piece of advice to beating this United side, what would it be?
I can’t answer that, he might see this! As I mentioned, United’s right-hand side is a concern. Darmian is a weak link in the side and I thought he can be got at it. Assuming that Brighton line up as they did against Watford, March and Bernardo down your left will be important from your point of view. In addition, Paul Pogba will want to continue his goal-scoring start to the season and nullifying his threat will go a long way to any success Brighton may have. Stephens and Propper will need to be on their game.
Jesse Lingard became a popular figure during a brief loan spell with us in 2014, although not many Albion fans would’ve predicted he’d go onto be as successful as he has. How do United fans rate him?
I think Jesse divides opinion amongst the Old Trafford faithful. He is a local lad and is probably afforded the luxury of a mistake of two as a result of that. A lot of fans don’t like to see the other side to him; the dancing, the Instagram posts. That is just the world we live in now. He is a young lad, living the dream; I think some fans are a bit too hard on him from that sense. His final ball is questionable at times. However, he has quality in the final third. If he improves his decision making and end product he will continue to improve. He is an important player in our squad and has rightly earned the trust of Mourinho.
Given you’ve got some of the best players in the world in your squad, this one might be difficult to answer – which Brighton player would you take to Old Trafford?
Pascal Gross. I think he has been an important player for Brighton last season, and will be again this campaign. His versatility is a good asset as he can play in midfield, out wide, or as a 10. I think he is best employed as a central player and he has genuine quality on the ball.
Finally, how do you see Sunday’s game going?
It’s hard to call. United won their opening game but it has to be said they were poor at times. The front three offered very little. Also, Brighton lost and will be keen to get some points on the board. I think the longer it goes on with United not scoring, the more comfortable Brighton will be and will fancy their chances about getting some points on the board. I think United may have too much on the day and I am going with 3-1 to United. I am looking to Sanchez to produce this Sunday as he hasn’t done it yet for us.
Jimmy writes for Red News fanzine, Manchester United’s first fanzine and you can also follow him on Twitter.
