oao Pedro gives Brighton a point and puts Manchester United in dire straits

Joao Pedro gives Brighton a point and puts Manchester United in dire straits

New owners (partially), new players, new atmosphere, but it was a familiar story for Manchester United. Joao Pedro scored the winner five minutes into added time and United will lament a ridiculous offside penalty that denied them the lead late on, but Brighton looked set to score for all but ten minutes of the second half. For United, it was a performance that may have been better than last season's equivalent, but still not good enough.

The winning goal came after sustained pressure. Simon Adingla finally dropped the ball at the back post, with three Brighton players lined up to finish it off. United may have taken quiet courage from the way they pressed Brighton, from their sense of shape and structure, but they lacked conviction and ruthlessness. And fundamentally, there is a baffling inability to get the simple things right. Where were the markers? Why was half the six-yard box empty in the ninth minute?

The first goal was no different. In the 32nd minute, the ball was played to João Pedro on the right and everyone stood back from him. He had time to bend a dangerous ball across the six-yard box and nobody touched it, but it found its way to Mitoma Kaoru just beyond the far post, who slotted it in behind Nousser Mazraoui. As he smashed a low ball across goal, Harry Maguire couldn't reach it - "I didn't see the ball," he explained lamentingly to Casemiro - and Danny Welbeck tucked it in.

Welbeck was once United's future, a local lad with a knack for scoring goals. He left the club in 2014. Two years earlier, another local lad with a knack for scoring goals, Marcus Rashford, had arrived. Rashford, too, was beginning to look like a player who would never fulfil his potential at Old Trafford. It was Rashford who intercepted Billy Gilmour's pass intended for Bruno Fernandes on the opener against Brighton.

Rashford finished last season in dismal form and has struggled this season - he missed two chances in the Community Shield against Manchester City and featured spasmodically at best against Fulham last week - and he comes across as a player lacking self-confidence and out of step with the world.

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A quick attempt to take a free kick just before half-time but losing the ball for nothing was a classic example. His sense of urgency has given way to a tendency to rush things and take chances. On a number of occasions he has run a little too early and been offside. He looks frustrated. Perhaps he just needs a goal to get going again but at the moment it feels like a rest, if not a transfer, is in order.

As per usual, Erik ten Hag changed the shape at half-time, introducing Joshua Zergzee, and the victim was Mason Mount, arguably the biggest player in the Premier League since Tom Huddlestone (curiously, Huddlestone left the United coaching staff in the summer to take up the
role with the England national team; perhaps Carrington was literally
too big for both of them). He couldn't stop gliding like a giant on water, and perhaps a smaller man would have been better off when he inadvertently kneed Alejandro Garnacho's goal-bound shot over the line and was ruled out for offside.

New owners (partially), new signings, new atmosphere, but it was a familiar story for Manchester United. Joao Pedro scored the winner in the fifth minute of added time. United will bemoan a ridiculous offside late on that denied them the lead, but for all but ten minutes of the second half Brighton looked like they were going to score . For United, it was a performance that may have been better than the equivalent game last season, but still not good enough.

The winner came after sustained pressure. Simon Adingla finally dropped the ball at the back post with three Brighton players waiting to finish it off. United may have taken quiet courage from the way they pressed Brighton, from their sense of shape and structure, but they lacked conviction and ruthlessness. And fundamentally, there is a baffling inability to get the simple things right. Where were the markers? Why was half the six-yard box empty in the 95th minute?

Brighton v Manchester United: Premier League – For real

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first goal was similar: in the 32nd minute, the ball was played to Joao Pedro on the right and everyone kept their distance from him. He
had time to curl a dangerous ball across the six-yard box and nobody touched it, but it sailed past the far post to Mitoma Kaoru, who slotted it past Nosair Mazraoui.

Zirkzee scored the winner against Fulham and made a noticeable difference to United's attacking prowess at least. Defensively, there still looked to be holes. James Milner's shot was cleared on the goal-line and Welbeck headed the ball against the bar late on after Mazraoui fed Amad Diallo . He got inside Jack Hinshelwood. Defenders will one day realise that the Ivorian only shoots with his left foot. His shot was deflected wide by Jan-Paul van Hecke past Jason Steele.

It was a back-and-forth affair after that but by added time the home side were in enough control that victory felt close. Brighton are shaping up to be a very entertaining team this season. United may still fear they won't be, for entirely different reasons.

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