Erik ten Hag Blames Manchester United’s Defending For Defeat Against Brighton

Under pressure, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag criticized his team’s defending following a 2-1 loss to Brighton on Saturday, where Joao Pedro scored a last-minute winner in the 95th minute.

United appeared to have secured a point when Amad Diallo’s deflected equalized after Danny Welbeck had given Brighton the lead in the first half.

But Brazilian forward Pedro was given acres of space to head in at the back post to give Brighton’s 31-year-old boss, Fabian Hurzeler, a dream home Premier League debut.

United has spent heavily in the transfer window to reinforce their defense with the signings of Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, and Leny Yoro.

De Ligt was among those responsible for the winning goal, as Dutch international and Scott McTominay were caught off guard by Simon Adingra’s cross allowing Pedro to score

“If you protect the goal like we do then you drop points,” said Ten Hag.

“We concede two soft goals where we should act better as a team. We have to be alive in such moments.”

Defeat puts the spotlight back on Ten Hag with Liverpool set to visit Old Trafford next weekend.

The former Ajax boss survived an internal review at the end of last season, despite finishing eighth in the Premier League, thanks to winning the FA Cup.

United got a much-needed 1-0 win against Fulham to open the season last weekend thanks to Joshua Zirkzee’s late winner.

Nonetheless, the performances in their first two league matches of the new season provided little evidence of a significant improvement from the lackluster 2023/24 season.

Emotional win for Hurzeler

Brighton thrashed Everton 3-0 away in Hurzeler’s first match in charge and showed they will be a contender to get back into European football next season.

“It was very emotional, always when you get the win in the last minute, it is. I think we deserved to win; we had a good game, not a perfect game. There were also situations where United had the chance to win the game,” Huerzeler said.

“I’m very proud of the team, they showed the value of never giving up and that’s very important to me.

“I think the first half was equal, and then in the second half, we started to control the game quite well. We had a lot of chances, especially in the second half.”

The Seagulls took the lead in the 32nd minute when Harry Maguire was unable to intercept a dangerous cross; Kaoru Mitoma rolled the ball back across the goal for Welbeck to tap in, marking his 100th career goal.

Within seconds the visitors thought they were level when Marcus Rashford bundled in at the back post only to be denied by the offside flag.

Brighton flew out of the traps after the break but failed to build on their advantage.

James Milner had an effort cleared off the line by Diogo Dalot before Welbeck headed off the bar.

United had barely been in the Brighton half since the restart until Diallo drove forward, cut inside onto his left foot, and found the net via a deflection off Jan Paul van Hecke.

Zirkzee had replaced Mason Mount at the break but after a hero’s debut, the Dutchman was the villain for what should have been a second United goal.

In a swift counter-attack, Diallo passed the ball to Fernandes, whose low cross was directed towards goal by Garnacho.

However, the ball clipped Zirkzee’s knee on its way in and the forward was ruled offside after a VAR review.

That proved to be the turning point as it was Brighton who got the decisive third goal.

Pedro effortlessly pull away from McTominay and substitute De Ligt, creating space to head the back across Andre Onana into the far corner.

“Their goal, for me, was from out of nowhere. I then didn’t like losing control. After their offside goal, I think we started to control the game again. In the end, I think we deserved to win,” Huerzeler added.

“I think Joao is a player who can decide the game with one action. For me, it was impressive today how he worked against the ball. He had the belief he would score and that’s something that makes him special.

“But in the end, it’s always a team win, and that’s most important.”