New season, new coach and old Manchester United. The coach is changing in the dugout, the players in the eleven. Not only United's performance is changing. Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, 8 coaches (including interim) have stood in the Manchester United dugout. Of the 7 coaches who preceded Erik ten Haag, all 6 except Louis von Gaal had a winning start. Ten Haag could not make the team of 6 people into 7 people, he had to accept the fate of von Gal. Erik ten Hoag's new United began the new season with a 2-1 defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford.
Ten Haag made the XI with Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench. The decision did not come as much of a surprise, however. He has been talking so much about wanting to leave United for the past few days, not only the fans but also the coach has become a bit annoyed with him. Ten Haag, however, had already said that the 37-year-old Ronaldo will have to prove his fitness like the rest to get a chance in the eleven. He will not get a place on name alone.
Despite keeping Ronaldo on the bench, Ten Haug gave a chance to Argentine centerback Lisandro Martinez, bought a few days ago from Ajax, and Danish winger Christian Eriksen, who was brought from Brentford. Eriksen has been dropped as the 'false nine', with Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford behind him.
But these experiments yielded nothing. In the first 10-12 minutes, it seemed that maybe a new United could be seen this season. But the next time, Ten Haag's team broke that mistake. A haphazard defense, the midfield didn't even seem to have anything to say. On the other hand, German midfielder Pascal Gross scored two great goals in the 30th and 39th minutes of Brighton. United went into the break with those two goals behind.
Ronaldo was substituted in the 53rd minute. United also had a couple of chances after that. Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez blocked Rashford's shot from just in front of the goal in the 60th minute. Six minutes later, Eriksen's shot was blocked by Sanchez in exchange for a corner.
That excellent performance was rewarded with a first-ever win at Old Trafford in the league against Manchester United.
Thank You.
Cc : @leojahid
