Manchester United vs. Brighton result, highlights & analysis as Gross double ruins Ten Hag's Old Trafford bow

Dom Farrell

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Manchester United vs. Brighton result, highlights & analysis as Gross double ruins Ten Hag's Old Trafford bow image

Pascal Gross netted a first-half brace to inspire Brighton to a deserved 2-1 win over Manchester United and ruin Erik ten Hag's maiden Premier League outing.

Ten Hag named Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench at Old Trafford and his players were left floundering by Gross' close-range expertise as the German midfielder took his career tally against United to six.

A scrappy own-goal from Alexis MacAllister reduced the arrears but, even with Ronaldo on the field as a second-half substitute, the sort of late rally often synonymous with United on their home ground never materialised.

The Seagulls follow the torpor at Old Trafford

"Let's give Brighton some credit before criticising Manchester United," Roy Keane said on Sky Sports at half-time, before immediately speaking in scathing terms about his old club. And that's what probably hurts the most for United today: it's all so familiar. There were shades of Louis van Gaal's debut defeat to Swansea City in 2013, which followed a preseason of hope, renewal and optimism. At least everyone is a little bit longer in the tooth now.

Keane's sentiment was correct. On paper, this is the 20-time champions of England losing to a team that has traditionally resided a good distance away from the top division. But Brighton are a problem for anyone on their day. When Pep Guardiola refers to them as "A Graham Potter team" it speaks volumes of the esteem in which the Albion boss is held by his most celebrated colleagues.

Brighton had a look at the puzzle they had to solve for the first 10 minutes or so, then proceeded to take United to the cleaners, with each delicate pass, turn and switch of play pricking at wounds that have understandably not healed after United's dire 2021/22.

Reality check for Ten Hag

Potter reverted to a back three in Brighton's final preseason friendly and stuck with that ploy to fine effect here, mitigating against the effect of losing Marc Cucurella for blockbusting money. A couple of seasons of calm, clear management and a defined footballing identity means such switches can be applied with minimal turbulence. Ten Hag is cut from a similar cloth in terms of football philosophy, but he will need to give a still-imbalanced United squad time to catch up with his vision.

Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen operating as roving central attackers was right out of the Cruyffian playbook but it also represented a departure from the 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations United had deployed throughout preseason. The logic was sound enough — stretch the three-man Brighton defence with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford pegged wide — and it led to Fernandes' early chance. But once Albion had them on the run, United did not have any fundamentals of this style to fall back on and they crumbled.

The end of McFred?

Scott McTominay and Fred playing in tandem has unfairly become a symbol of United's recent decline. If anyone else had done any better than those two in central midfield, they'd be playing there. Instead, Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba left at the end of their contracts, so Ten Hag's midfield selection on Sunday was in part an exercise in necessity. The summer-long pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, who remains embroiled in Barcelona's Mes Que Un Bitcoin psychodrama, looks likely to come to nought.

But United desperately need some reinforcements. Fred was the deeper of the two and was errant in possession in front of the back four as Brighton turned the action in their favour during the early stages, while McTominay's capacity to discomfort the opposition was nullified by a yellow card for a challenge on the excellent Moises Caicedo that could easily have been a red. As impressive as Brighton's second goal was, such a move does not simply meander through a structurally sound midfield. In the remaining three weeks of the transfer window, it is the area of weakness United must address.

Manchester United vs. Brighton final score

  1H 2H Final
Manchester United 0 1 1
Brighton 2 0 2

Goals:

BRI — GROSS (WELBECK) — 30th min

BRI — GROSS (MARCH) — 39th min

MUN — MACALLISTER (OG) — 68th min

MORE: Manchester United vs. Brighton: Time, TV channel, stream, betting odds for Erik ten Hag's first Premier League match

It might have been a very different story had Bruno Fernandes converted a golden seventh-minute opportunity but he blazed over from inside the box.

From that point, Brighton started to dictate terms, making light of losing key men Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella in the summer transfer market. Danny Welbeck was a thorn in his former club's side throughout and his clever run and cross led to Gross' 30th-minute opener.

Graham Potter's side then produced a fluid move in their manager's image from their own goalline, leaving United chasing shadows before David de Gea saved from Solly March. He could only push the wing-back's shot into Gross' path for another simple finish.

Ronaldo's emergence in place of Fred shortly after half-time lifted the volume at Old Trafford and the five-time Ballon d'Or winner crossed to give Rashford a glorious opportunity after the hour. David Sanchez's save was magnificent, but the fact he even had a chance spoke of a player whose confidence remains on the floor.

Sanchez erred to let United back into the match, failing to claim a left-wing corner. Diogo Dalot scrambled goalwards and the prone Brighton keeper could only touch the ball against MacAllister's leg before it trickled over the line.

Lewis Dunk produced a heroic sliding block to thwart United debutant Lisandro Martinez three minutes from time but that was something of an isolated incident as Brighton saw out victory in relative comfort, with their new-look hosts floundering for ideas.

Manchester United vs. Brighton live updates and highlights

Fulltime: Veltman welts a clearance most of the way to Altrincham and that's your lot. A spectacular win and performance from Brighton, who thoroughly deserve the points. New era, same old full-time boos, same old Ronaldo standing with his hands on hips in a funk at the end. Welcome to the new gig, Mr Ten Hag.

90th minute+4: Whistle for offside and those Brighton fans who don't anxiously set a stopwatch for injury time on their phones cheer errantly. Just the price you pay for enjoying yourselves at the football, folks.

90th minute+3: More than half of the allocated stoppage time gone and United have not been in the Brighton half to any extent. This is absolutely expert stuff from Potter's men.

90th minute: Last throw of the dice from Ten Hag, who sends on debutant Malacia, Gramacho and Elanga to find the equaliser. Colwill is on to help Brighton see it out. There'll be five additional minutes.

87th minute: Martinez gets a shot away at the second attempt from the corner. It's goalbound but Dunk emerges from nowhere to make a heroic sliding block.

86th minute: Old Trafford urges Ronaldo to shoot, he tees up Eriksen, whose shot is blocked and then Sanchez gathers Sancho's cross at the second attempt.

Back they come, Ronaldo's shot is deflected behind. Corner.

84th minute: Sancho looks to get in behind the Brighton backline but he's crowded out as Webster, who has been very impressive, stands firm.

83rd minute: MacAllister couldn't really do much about the own goal and it's hard to begrudge him going for glory at the other end. The Argentinian spears wide from 30 yards. Brighton were toying with United then and Potter might have liked them to keep popping it around, given the game situation.

81st minute: Gross heads down towards Welbeck and Martinez makes a vital intervention. As United push for an equaliser, Brighton can probably expect one or two further moments like that.

78th minute: Van de Beek is on for McTominay, slotting into central midfield alongside Eriksen. Is this the end of McFred???

76th minute: Lallana and Trossard make way as Potter recognises Brighton's need for fresh legs, sending on Mwepu and Lamptey. That back three is going to definitively become a back five. Van de Beek is coming on for United as another man with Ajax links, Martinez, fires over from distance.

73rd minute: Sanchez looking to go all the way from hero to zero here. He fumbles Dalot drive and Brighton scramble clear. The crowd are up at Old Trafford now as they sense a famous comeback.

71st minute: United remain on the front foot and win another corner. This could start to feel like a very long 20 minutes for Brightin.

68th minute: GOAL!!!!! MACALLISTER (OG)

United back in it. Sanchez produced heroics to deny Rashford but he's made a hash of that corner and Dalot scrambles the ball towards goal. Sanchez flings himself to paw the ball off his goalline but touches it against the helpless MacAllister. It's a scrapy goal but Ten Hag will certainly take it.

67th minute: Eriksen, who has looked so much more effective from deeper areas, lines a shot up. Sanchez gets down to make the save and Veltman is alert to clear behind.

65th minute: That's another good chance for Rashford and one that he missed by such a distance he maybe made it look a bit less good. Dalot found him at the back post and Rashford volleyed over on his left foot at the back post. It does look like a long way back to form and confidence for him right now.

62nd minute: That golden Rashford chance looked like the conclusion of a bit of a storm weathered by Brighton. They've now got back to work in the United half, where Ronaldo is pressed into near-post defensive action from a corner.

60th minute: INCREDIBLE SAVE! Ronaldo gets away down the right - he was flagged offside but replays suggest he was level. The cross is on a silver platter for Rashford but Sanchez gets out and spreads himself to complete a truly stunning piece of goalkeeping.

55th minute: United have got away with one there. That's utterly absurd from Paul Tierney. If Ten Hag's side end up escaping with something here, that will be a pivotal moment.

54th minute: Oh my word, what is Martinez playing at? He bundles into the back of Danny Welbeck. No penalty given but VAR will check it.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.