Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag saw his mixed brew of old and new charges get their Premier League season off to the worst possible start imaginable, conceding twice during an especially miserable first half versus Brighton, who seems to have been assigned the role of United\u2019s new nemesis since last season when they were trounced 4-0 by the resilient Seagulls.<\/p>\n
Even the new hotshot former Ajax manager had buoyantly declared he and his team were ready for the new season after having enjoyed what had seemed to be a massively positive pre-season, beating even last season\u2019s Premier League runners up Liverpool in their friendly match-up.<\/p>\n
The start of a bright new era? Hardly as just 45 minutes into Erik ten Hag\u2019s era at Manchester United,\u00a0a cacophony of familiar, soul-piercing boos and heckles rained down like hellfire from the Old Trafford stands, slapping the Dutchman and his not so merry men back into the sobering humdrum of painful reality.<\/p>\n
Ten Hag had been appointed on the back of the club\u2019s worst ever Premier League\u00a0season. Despite the brooding undertones in the rapidly gathering dark clouds that he has so far brought in insufficient players worthy of mention, throughout the summer there had still been optimistic signs that the current crop of underperforming stars were adapting to his style, or so it had appeared.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, within mere minutes of his first competitive match in charge, that irrepressible Old Trafford in-built optimism and obduracy to reject harsh reality was quickly replaced with abject frustration. Brighton\u2019s 4-0 demolition job had definitely been one of the lowest points of last season and this opening day soiree represented the perfect chance for the ever-proud Red Devils to finally hold their heads up high and make their redemption charge. Unfortunately \u2026<\/p>\n
It soon became apparent that the Seagulls \u2013 brilliantly orchestrated and drilled by Graham Potter \u2013 were a much taller task and more insurmountable than Ten Hag and his Red Devils had anticipated.<\/p>\n
Brighton\u2019s Danny Welbeck was seen exercising his multiple-entries visa status and regularly crossing the hosts\u2019 last line on several occasions, but the warning signs went unheeded, to the obvious detriment of United. After David de Gea floated forward an aimless ball that Brighton won possession of and played in Welbeck on the left-hand side of the box, the former United striker in turn found Pascal Gross to tap into an empty net in the 30th minute.<\/p>\n
And before Ten Hag could even snap his fingers to make any changes the score registered two, with Gross again on hand to tap the ball into the net for his second before the break.<\/p>\n
And as the visitors were effortlessly stroking the ball around and the whistle went for the break, the home players were roundly booed as they went down the tunnel after yet another miserable top-flight showing that wasn\u2019t quite what the United faithful had been waiting for the last few months after having sampled humbling pie again last season.<\/p>\n
The stats didn\u2019t make for pretty reading either. Despite having more possession than the visitors their first half xG was only at 0.29 compared to Brighton\u2019s at 1.31. The major part of their struggles stemmed from being overran in midfield, with Fred, Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes\u00a0losing the ball a whopping 25 times between the trio.<\/p>\n
Much of the summer has been dominated by links with new midfield players, none more so than Barcelona\u2019s Frenkie de Jong, who has since become United\u2019s spooky bogeyman. United bosses had hoped to get that deal well over the line before the resumption of the new season, but talks are now clearly at an impasse that doesn\u2019t appear to be anywhere closer to being resolved.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s inconceivable that the much-maligned partnership of Fred and McTominay had once again been deployed as the \u2018McFred\u2019 duo had become a lightning rod attracting harsh criticism during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer\u00a0and Ralf Rangnick\u2019s respective doomed tenures in the dugout.<\/p>\n
Scarily, despite all the talk of revolution under the new man in charge, it was that same axis which performed so dismally below the standards required. At this early juncture, it is actually hard to believe that this current United squad in its latest iteration would be able to mount a serious challenge for the top four this season, at least not at the rate they are going minus the able reinforcements that they are obviously in dire need of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"