The second half was almost fully dominated by the Red Devils and Brighton looked very tired after the break and their possession was much sloppier than the first. It took some controversy and a slice of luck but finally Manchester United made the breakthrough through Young’s deflected shot and afterwards deemed as a Lewis Dunk own-goal. The Red Devils looked to try and settle the nerves at Old Trafford but nothing showed for their pressure and Jose Mourinho will be scratching his head as to who will be scoring goals with away trips to Watford and Arsenal coming up especially with Marcus Rashford limping off. With Tottenham held by West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool playing Chelsea, a win was the only thing that’d do but every fan would have hoped for a more emphatic result to say the least.
MATCH RATINGS:
DAVID DE GEA 7/10
Did nothing much all game but held a few average shots and distribute clinically
ANTONIO VALENCIA 7/10
Strong and powerful runner as always, put in some decent crosses and showed his influence
VICTOR LINDELOF 8/10
A nervy first half against Glenn Murray who looked much stronger than the Swede but still came out on top and put in some strong tackles and some good long-range passes. Without a doubt his best performance in a Manchester United shirt.
CHRIS SMALLING 7/10
Looked strong and physical in defence, perhaps a tad sloppy in his distribution (an attribution that Gareth Southgate has commented on) but an overall solid performance
ASHLEY YOUNG 9/10
Outstanding performance, looked dangerous and creative every time he surged forwards and put in a strong shift at the back. A bit of luck with the goal and he will be disappointed not to be awarded it.
PAUL POGBA 8/10
Another great performance after being back from injury, his distribution was outstanding and he showed flashes of skill and was very unlucky not to score
NEMANJA MATIC 7/10
Perhaps stretched too far in this game with Brighton’s three central midfielders overwhelming the Serbian and Pogba at times but he played well in possession and solid in defence
JUAN MATA 5/10
Unable to make many chances in the time he had and was relatively stifled by Brighton and will be looking over his shoulder with Ibra’s improving fitness
MARCUS RASHFORD 7/10
Using his pace as usual to superb effect and his crossing has much improved but will have wanted to cap the performance with a goal and may be injured for a few matches
ANTHONY MARTIAL 6/10
Didn’t try and take on Bruno as much as expected and cut in far too early too often. Reasonable to sub him off for Mkhitaryan
ROMELU LUKAKU 5/10
Held up the play well but overall another poor performance, he is a fantastic player on his day but those days are dwindling at this point in the season and has to be more clinical in front of goal
SUBS:
Looked much fitter and stronger. Linking up well with Lukaku and Pogba and will be wanting to start matches soon
HENRIKH MKHITARYAN 6/10
Didn’t do much wrong in the time he had but could and should have created more chances than he did
MAROUANE FELLAINI 6/10
His usual self, an aerial threat and defensively sound, not too much wrong so sign the damn contract already!
