· 2 min readIn this Man United vs Brighton match, I analyse the key tactical moments, individual performances and turning points of the game.
Manchester United came into this third round of the Carabao Cup after a start to the season that had already raised too many questions. Thirteenth in the Premier League, defensively fragile and coming off a defeat against Manchester City, even the home factor did not make United favourites. Brighton, on the other hand, came into the game confident, after big wins over Aston Villa and Coventry.
The response seemed perfect in the opening minutes. In the 8th minute, Shea Lacey received from Tielemans on the right, cut inside with little space and shot close to the near post for a beautiful 1-0. One minute later, Mount took advantage of United’s pressure and a mistake from Costinha. Rashford won the ball back, shot weakly and Steele saved towards the penalty spot, where Mount appeared alone to make it 2-0. Two goals in two minutes and a dream start.
But the scoreline completely hid the game. United created practically nothing else after Rashford’s shot in the 12th minute, while Brighton started to gain ground.
In the 36th minute, Yalcouyé found Pascal Groß in an open area after Yoro abandoned his marking without Heaven or Dalot closing the space. Groß missed, but it was another sign that United’s defence continued to be far too easy to break down.
Brighton already had eight shots to United’s four and 0.92 expected goals compared to just 0.30.
In the 45+1st minute, the fragility appeared again. Sesko lost the ball, a long ball found Kostoulas behind Heaven and Darlow hesitated far too much coming off his line. The young Greek was left with an open goal and pulled one back to make it 2-1. The scoreline was therefore misleading: United had scored twice without putting together a performance to justify two goals.
In the second half, the trend became even more obvious. Sesko, completely disconnected from the game, had few opportunities to touch the ball and, when he received it in the 61st minute, carried it too slowly, tried to dribble and lost it. He came off five minutes later after a very poor performance.
In the 65th minute, Groß equalised after a headed ball towards the edge of the box. He took Heaven out of the play with quality and beat Darlow. Shortly afterwards, in the 70th minute, the comeback was complete. Kostoulas appeared behind the defence, his shot hit Mazraoui and De Cuyper, who had come on four minutes earlier, appeared to make it 2-3.
United still had a huge chance in the 76th minute, but Rashford, through on goal, allowed Steele to save. From there, it was chaos. Brighton still threatened to score more, while United reached the final minutes unable to create danger and finished without even being able to control possession.
Post-match
Brighton eliminated a United side that continue to show the same problems. Conceding three goals after being 2-0 up is not bad luck. It is a team without control, without consistency and, at the moment, without reasons for the fans to believe in them.
