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Manchester United 2:1 Brighton & Hove Albion

Post-match discussion


Sun, 04 April 2021

George the Cat

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i would argue that top 4 is not yet secure, yes, a lot of teams play each that are vying for top 4, but I believe we still need at least 4 wins, possibly 5. We have 4 home games, two of which are Fulham and Burnley, we know how,those are likely to pan out, plus Liverpool and Leicester, both good away teams. Our away games are also not givens, Spurs, Villa, Leeds and Wolves. The team I’m afraid that are the most likely to make top four are Liverpool, they are beginning to play well again, and looking at their run in, they could easily get 21/22 points
We are effectively 12 points ahead due to goal difference, so we got to drop 12 points out of 24 and Spurs or Dippers have to win every game, that ain’t going to happen.
 

The Brown Bull

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As I said earlier in the thread it's one of those rare occasions when you ask yourself "would it have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch" and the answers probably not. Mike Dean let quite a few of that level of challenge/foul go in the game.
Mike Dean is a poor ref. The fact that he let a lot of other fouls go just proves that.
I am happy he didn't give it but it was a pen. Enough about it.
 

KirkDuyt

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United has finally been subjected to the thuggish shitestain called Joel Veltman.
 

Perseus

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Mike Dean is a poor ref. The fact that he let a lot of other fouls go just proves that.
I am happy he didn't give it but it was a pen. Enough about it.
It was more of a Welbeck "must score" miss. Brighton can't put their chances away since 1983.
 
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SadlerMUFC

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It's as though they haven't learned anything from Cavani. Why haven't they been paying attention to his runs and how he scored in the first half of the season? Is it a coaching thing? Pure mentality or both? Maybe it's an ego thing?

It particularly annoys me when our playmakers either take ridiculous pot-shots or take heavy touches in key areas.
Cavani was one of the 4 standing around watching. He was awful yesterday. 17 touches in an entire game? Brutal...
 

Roosney

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Cavani was one of the 4 standing around watching. He was awful yesterday. 17 touches in an entire game? Brutal...
If you watch the replays of our attacks he immediately stops playing if he feels the ball is not coming his way. At least later on in the game. That's quite uncharacteristic of him.
 

mitchmouse

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Cavani was one of the 4 standing around watching. He was awful yesterday. 17 touches in an entire game? Brutal...
It would help if we had a midfield good enough to actually pass to him: Bruno wasn't great, Fred was Fred and Pogba was appalling
 

tjb

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Do you mean this current United or United in general historically? If its the former then I agree but if you are including Fergie's teams in this, then we had the likes of Scholes, Keane, Carrick in there, hello?

In fact I think that's what we need really, a very good passer in the midfield who can pass consistently accurately through the lines and either wings. This will create 1v1 positions and space for our attack to create magic.
Even then when we did break teams down, we moved the ball quickly with lots of roaming. We have never been Barcelona in La Liga slow tempo before( well LVG).
 

Shimo

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Avoided the match thread yesterday. Did Pogba get lambasted for the poor pass leading to the goal? I swear, soon as that happened, I said to myself, they are going to score. My thought was we had started well enough to try be on the front foot but, sloppy mistake as always and we are behind.

Glad to get the 3 points, hopefully a couple more wins soon with some more results that go our way and maybe we can finally see Amad a bit more this season. Personally I would have liked to have seen him come on instead of James yesterday. As organized as Brighton were, could have done with someone with a bit trickery to disjoint them.
 

Don't Kill Bill

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Strange game. We looked really slick until they scored and then it was drudgery until half time. Good to see Mason scoring again and we improved second half and in the end three points is three points.
 

always_hoping

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We are effectively 12 points ahead due to goal difference, so we got to drop 12 points out of 24 and Spurs or Dippers have to win every game, that ain’t going to happen.
The gap to 5th will be 8 points if Everton, West Ham win their matches in hand.
 

DSG

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Funny that with a good performance in the second half, we grind out a win and show a lot of character. Yet, still only 7 pages of posts. If it were a draw or loss, we’d be up to 19 pages already... welcome to the Caf. We just can’t reach our true potential without our usual boatload of negativity.
 

Mickson

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Funny that with a good performance in the second half, we grind out a win and show a lot of character. Yet, still only 7 pages of posts. If it were a draw or loss, we’d be up to 19 pages already... welcome to the Caf. We just can’t reach our true potential without our usual boatload of negativity.
I see these kinds of posts quite often. I don't think it's negativity, it's just that sometimes we don't have anything to say. United didn't play particularly well, we grinded out a win. It's not much to say. Same old performance, and unfortunately that's not a good thing. The one positive I see is that Rashford scored again and Mason got some confidence back. Not much to say other than that, and I think plenty agrees with me, hence the inactivity in the thread. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the Leeds win or Leipzig win might have been busier threads, and we won!
 

SadlerMUFC

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It would help if we had a midfield good enough to actually pass to him: Bruno wasn't great, Fred was Fred and Pogba was appalling
I'm a fan of Cavani, but he was horrible yesterday. Didn't look interested at all. I can't back this up, but it seemed as though Greeenwood had more touches in 10 minutes in the #9 than Cavani did for the entire 82 minutes that he played...
 

Statue of Limitations

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At this stage of the season, it isn't a beauty contest, just get the points on the board and now we are closer to securing 2nd.
Brighton played well enough, fair play to them but we march on.

Makes it a bit easier to start to prioritise the EL, we have such a big cushion and margin for error domestically now.
 

redmanx

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Avoided the match thread yesterday. Did Pogba get lambasted for the poor pass leading to the goal? I swear, soon as that happened, I said to myself, they are going to score. My thought was we had started well enough to try be on the front foot but, sloppy mistake as always and we are behind.

Glad to get the 3 points, hopefully a couple more wins soon with some more results that go our way and maybe we can finally see Amad a bit more this season. Personally I would have liked to have seen him come on instead of James yesterday. As organized as Brighton were, could have done with someone with a bit trickery to disjoint them.
Giving the ball away as he did was bad enough but what really annoyed me was the way he didnt make any effort to redeem the situation, while everybody elsew was running Pogba jogged. Maybe he has a claus in his contract about not running back to help out.
 

Shimo

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Giving the ball away as he did was bad enough but what really annoyed me was the way he didnt make any effort to redeem the situation, while everybody elsew was running Pogba jogged. Maybe he has a claus in his contract about not running back to help out.
Pass was real sloppy but, didn't actually see anything wrong with his movement afterwards, he got into position at the top of the box in more than enough time , not like he was going to get out wide to chase the ball down.
 

city-puma

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Cavani was one of the 4 standing around watching. He was awful yesterday. 17 touches in an entire game? Brutal...
His first touch, linkup play, and close control are what let him down. In some sense, our play style doesn’t suit him. He is definitely not the tool to unlock those well organized defense system in EPL.
 

Craig Ward

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Giving the ball away as he did was bad enough but what really annoyed me was the way he didnt make any effort to redeem the situation, while everybody elsew was running Pogba jogged. Maybe he has a claus in his contract about not running back to help out.
This has been the way Pogba has conducted himself here from day one. Zero effort, zero care to retrieve his own errors and little tactical defensive awareness to follow runners etc.

He's talented and gifted - but an absolute joke of a team player.

We have ourselves to blame - we've played him too deep in midfield from day one when he is incapable of doing so to the standards we need. He could have been a success here if we used him further up the field where his flaws aren't so obvious. Catch 22 as always with Pogba - he's a better footballer than most at the club but his form and consistency are well below what they should be which makes his involvement in the team questionable, but because of his potential talent he is adored by most fans. I've been waiting for him to turn into a good player for us from day 1, but it just isn't happening
 

Pickle85

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Not one for the neutrals but the three points is the main thing. We were terrible first half but much better second. Way more urgency and less sloppy. Cavani offered next to nothing and, outside of the goal, I thought Marcus was pretty poor. Pogba had a forgettable game - really need to see him up his levels for the remainder of the season. It's encouraging that we're able to pick up points even when not at anything like our best but it was a tough watch...
 

SadlerMUFC

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His first touch, linkup play, and close control are what let him down. In some sense, our play style doesn’t suit him. He is definitely not the tool to unlock those well organized defense system in EPL.
Actually, he is the right tool to unlock an organized defense. His biggest strength is his off the ball movement, which is usually really good. This game against brighton he was off though. Almost seemed uninterested. Which helps fuel the rumours that he doesn't want to stay...
 

Giggsy13

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A few takeaways from this very good win: Mason should be given a run as our starting striker for the rest of the season. While it creates a hole on the right, it may change our approach this summer, as we may try to finally address the right side with an established starter. Sancho is wishful thinking but Raphinha would be a great buy. More importantly, we finally put Mason in a position to succeed and show his potential. He’s wasted on the right.

On transfers, assuming we have a limited budget, we should be keeping an eye on one of (or both) Bissouma and White. Both would be great additions to the squad and likely at more reasonable fees than some of our other targets. We need to start unearthing gems at smaller clubs or players who can become great when they make the step up. The scousers did that well with Robertson, Salah and Mane, and we have to do the same to close the gap with city.
 
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redmanx

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This has been the way Pogba has conducted himself here from day one. Zero effort, zero care to retrieve his own errors and little tactical defensive awareness to follow runners etc.

He's talented and gifted - but an absolute joke of a team player.

We have ourselves to blame - we've played him too deep in midfield from day one when he is incapable of doing so to the standards we need. He could have been a success here if we used him further up the field where his flaws aren't so obvious. Catch 22 as always with Pogba - he's a better footballer than most at the club but his form and consistency are well below what they should be which makes his involvement in the team questionable, but because of his potential talent he is adored by most fans. I've been waiting for him to turn into a good player for us from day 1, but it just isn't happening
I gave up on him about 3 seasons ago.
 

Craig Ward

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A few takeaways from this very good win: Mason should be given a run as our starting striker for the rest of the season. While it creates a hole on the right, it may change our approach this summer, as we may try to finally address the right side with an established starter. Sancho is wishful thinking but Raphinha would be a great buy. More importantly, we finally put Mason in a position to succeed and show his potential. He’s wasted on the right.

On transfers, assuming we have a limited budget, we should be keeping an eye on one of (or both) Bissouma and White. Both would be great additions to the squad and likely at more reasonable fees than some of our other targets. We need to start unearthing gems at smaller clubs or players who can become great when they make the step up. The scousers did that well with Robertson, Salah and Mane, and we have to do the same to close the gap with city.
Mason's future will be down the middle, we've been using him out wide out of necessity and part of his development. The modern forward has to be competent across the front three to some degree really. He's done well off the right lets not forget. Mason isn't wasted on the right - it takes years to become an elite level CF - not many succeed there. Rashford and Martial are both amazing talents but struggle there.

I feel we have addressed the right hand side - Diallo and pellistri. Both young and will come through in time. I can't see of going for a Sancho type fee when we've already done business there. Between Diallo / Pellistri / James / Greenwood and even Rashford for the RW - I can't see us pursuing Sancho or a Dembele.

Transfers - agree with the model. We cant always buy the finished article. Bissouma would be the type we need to look at. He's arguably already on a better level than McTom and Fred, has more to offer than Matic and a more natural DM than Pogba. So he'd already improve us, and have scope to improve even more with us. White is a no go for me - we are stacked with average to semi decent CB's. He doesnt come in and instantly make us better for me - which is what we need at CB. He could improve with the step up to a big club etc but i'd be looking at other options considering Brighton priced Leeds out big time in the summer. Agree with a lot of what you've said though - good post
 

mitchmouse

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His first touch, linkup play, and close control are what let him down. In some sense, our play style doesn’t suit him. He is definitely not the tool to unlock those well organized defense system in EPL.
I think he actually is... his runs are very clever - sadly our midfield isn't! That said, he obviously isn't the long-term answer and I get the feeling he is getting pissed off at not being picked out after making a run
 

Man of the Match

Mason Greenwood image Mason Greenwood 39% of 262 votes

Runners-up

Player Ratings

6.0 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 253 ratings.

Score Predictions

186,10,12
  • Man Utd win
  • Brighton win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 28% Man Utd 2:0 Brighton
  • 21% Man Utd 2:1 Brighton
  • 15% Man Utd 3:0 Brighton
  • 11% Man Utd 3:1 Brighton
  • 7% Man Utd 1:0 Brighton
  • 4% Man Utd 4:0 Brighton
  • 4% Man Utd 1:1 Brighton
  • 2% Man Utd 1:2 Brighton
  • 2% Man Utd 4:1 Brighton
  • 1% Man Utd 0:2 Brighton
  • 1% Man Utd 0:0 Brighton
  • 1% Man Utd 5:0 Brighton
  • 1% Man Utd 2:2 Brighton
  • 0% Man Utd 0:3 Brighton
  • 0% Man Utd 0:4 Brighton
  • 0% Man Utd 0:5 Brighton
Compiled from 208 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Brighton
Possession
58% 42%
Shots
15 5
Shots on Target
7 3
Corners
5 6
Fouls
14 7

Referee

Mike Dean