Coaching disasterclass. Lost us the game with that horrible starting lineup. Eriksen as false 9 was baffling. Not only was he useless, but the rest of the team badly needed him deeper to dictate our passing. It’s the small things like passing the ball fast, not taking many touches and breaking the lines. McFred is absolutely horrible at it. They move the ball so slow, takes a million touches and just runs with it into traffic. It’s like watching the opposite of tiki taka. Our passing was borderline unwatchable in the first half. Bruno isn’t a deep lying playmaker either, he mostly likes to operate in the final third, so McFred gets even more exposed because they have to be the playmakers in the middle.
We had to go down 0-2 before someone realised that maybe it would be a good idea to get Eriksen deeper. I seriously don’t understand why he started as a false 9. We need a calming influence in the middle, so McTominay and Fred can relax. For those two the more simple they play the better. They play so much better when they know they don’t have to be the playmakers. We should have started with McFred + Eriksen in midfield.
Our defense looked shaky in the beginning, but played themselves into the game. Maguire and Martinez looked better as the game progressed. That high like still worries me a bit. Dalot have high highs and low lows. Like he goes from clown to genius, nothing in between. Shaw was the opposite. Just a really nothing day. Didn’t do anything bad, but also didn’t do anything good. You could barely tell he was playing.
Our forwards were complete ass. Missed all their chances, big or small didn’t matter to them. Created nothing and i don’t even think they managed to dribble past their opponent once. Funny enough but it was again the opposite, Rashford started best, but then became invisible later. Sancho was invisible, until like 20 minutes before the end. They look so scared, like they already know they can’t beat their man. Like they are afraid to run at the defense. Look at that Lampty dude from Brighton. He came on and immidiately ran at our defense.
Bruno doesn’t look like himself. He didn’t have the best preseason and it continue into the game against Brighton. He created less than he usually do and gave the ball away more than he usually do. Not a good game. We should have tried him as false 9 or on the left.
Ronaldo didn’t do anything when he came on. Anyone could have done what he did. Amad could honestly have done more, at least he will press the defense. It wasn’t that Ronaldo was bad, he just didn’t really do much.
But the main fail was EtH starting with Eriksen as false 9. It completely ruined the game for us. You play a normal team and we win this game. I think EtH should get flak for that. If any other manager had done that people would laugh at them. I honestly still can’t believe how dumb it was. He must have been drunk.