In the first round of the Premier League, Manchester United welcomed their first game of the season against Brighton. In the end, United suffered a 1-2 defeat.
In this campaign, Tenhach discharged a 433 formation. From the perspective of the starting lineup, Manchester United has made a relatively large adjustment. On the forward line, Tenhach unexpectedly put Eriksen in the center position, with Marcus Rashford and Sancho flanked to his left and right. Ronaldo sat on the bench. In midfield, Fred and Scott McTominay teamed up at the back, with the front-back position still going to Bruno Fernandez. In the backline, Malaysia, which had performed well in the warm-up, did not get a chance to start, and Luke Shaw remained at left-back. The right-back is Darot. In the centre-back position, Maguire partnered with new signing Lisandro López.
Judging from the performance after the opening, in the face of Brighton's high pressing, there are obvious problems with the tactical operation of manchester United. After the opening, Dalot took the ball for the first time and made a mistake under the pressure of the opponent. After the opposing striker broke the ball, he dribbled into the box and faced De Gea with a volley that hit the side-netting. The same mistake then came with Fred. He withdrew from midfield to receive a pass from the centre-back, but passed it directly to his opponent near his own penalty area. Fortunately, the other party was not prepared enough to seize the opportunity. Judging from Tenhach's tactical arrangement, the division of labor between Fred and Scott McTominay in this game is very clear. Fred stands in front of two centre-backs and is responsible for the coordination and connection between the defender line and the midfield. McTominay stepped in more of an attack, using his good running position and passing skills to give United a numerical advantage in attack.
From the actual effect, there is a clear difference in the performance of the two players. Fred's shortcomings in poor ability to shoot the ball at the back are still very obvious. With the opponent limiting the focus of his position, it was almost impossible for him to complete a high-quality shot. United's link between the back line and the midfield is almost cut off. Relatively speaking, McTominay played better, and he was often able to appear in the vacant position when the team attacked. A cross from the right side of the penalty area in the first half was very threatening, but bruno Fernandez's shot went high over the crossbar unguarded.
Erikson's position is very flexible, almost never standing in the middle position, but running widely, trying to form a combination with the teammates around him. However, there was not enough chemistry between him and Bruno Fernandez, and there was not much contact between the two men. Eriksen's excessive range of activities also poses a clear problem for United. That is, they don't have a fixed player in the center position, which makes the team lack the necessary pick-up points in the middle. Whether in the forward position or in the two winger positions, the players can only pass and cooperate on the outside of the box, and cannot form a threatening attack in the box. Relatively speaking, Brighton's attack seems to be more clear-cut. Verbeke consciously took advantage of the fact that United's backline was too empty and uncomfortably coordinated, and on a few occasions the ball appeared very threatening. Since Fred's help to the back line was very limited, Lisandro López and Maguire struggled to defend.
Although it is a home game, Manchester United is still at a disadvantage on the pitch. One of the important reasons is that they lack a player in the midfield position who can control the rhythm of the team's attack, so there is no way to organize an effective attack. In the middle of the first half, United conceded the ball first. Brighton broke from the left after breaking the ball in midfield, and Welbeck's cross-pass helped Gross open the scoring at the back post. After being behind, United still don't have a good way to do it on the offensive end, and they appear to be slow on the pitch. United's second goal came quickly. The team was cut off on the right and the opponent made consecutive precise passes along the left side, and finally Gross grabbed the point in the penalty area and once again broke de Gea's ten-finger mark. Judging from the process of conceding goals, Fred, who was responsible for keeping an eye on Gross, made a series of wrong judgments throughout the process, and finally could only watch his opponent break the goal. In the whole game, he was the worst player. If there are players in the Manchester United team who need to be "swept out", it can only be Fred.
In the second half, Manchester United, who could not find the status, chose to replace C Ronaldo. C Ronaldo played a good lead after playing, and his teammates gained more space. Marcus Rashford missed out on very good scoring opportunities twice in a row. After that, United were very lucky to pull back a goal thanks to the melee in front of goal. In the end, Ronaldo and his teammates were unable to return to heaven, and Manchester United had to accept the defeat. From a tactical point of view, at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, Tenhach's team has no highlights, and this game can be called a complete defeat. (The picture comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)