Man United vs Brighton

Will Erik ten Hag begin life at Old Trafford with a Premier League win? Join Rob Smyth to find out.

50 min Rashford has a shot blocked; then United appeal for handball against Lallana in the area. 57 min It’s getting a bit tetchy, at least on the United side. 48 min: Chance for Welbeck! It could be 3-0 to Brighton. Trossard lofts a cross towards Welbeck, who gets in front of Martinez at the near post and heads wide from eight yards. 54 min Martinez shoves Welbeck over in the area, a challenge so needless it’s almost weird. 60 min Sanchez makes a brilliant save from Rashford! The flag went up subsequently, but I’m not sure it was offside. 65 min Ronaldo releases Dalot on the right, but his cutback is wtretched. Dalot cuts inside from the left (yep) and hits a fairly routine shot that is spilled by Sanchez. Happily for him, it falls to Lallana rather than a United player. 66 min “I’ve not seen a crucial decision bottled like that at Old Trafford since the heyday of Alex Ferguson,” says Thomas Atkins on the Martinez/Welbeck challenge in the 54th minute. The corner leads a goal! 76 min Martinez whistles a long-range shot just over the bar. It’s a deserved victory against a disjointed, desperate United side who showed Erik ten Hag the size of the task ahead. He smashes a cross-shot that is brilliantly blocked by the stretching Dunk!

Manchester United kick off their 2022/23 Premier League campaign with they take on Brighton at Old Trafford this afternoon. Here are the confirmed line-ups:

Scott McTominay starts in midfield along with Fred so Donny van de Beek has to make do with a place among the substitutes this afternoon. Marcus Rashford gets a start and is expected to lead the line up front. Jadon Sancho also starts for Man Utd along with Bruno Fernandes while summer signing Christian Eriksen is handed his competitive debut and the Danish international will be looking to impress in his first appearance at Old Trafford as a United player.

Erik ten Hag endures a nightmare first Premier League game in charge of Manchester United as they lose at home to Brighton.

Christian Eriksen (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Attempt blocked. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United) header from the left side of the box is blocked. Attempt blocked. - Away12 - Shots None of Brighton's summer signings started this match. It was another Portuguese, Diogo Dalot, who created the confusion that led to United's goal. Within eight minutes of the resumption, Ronaldo had been introduced to try and lead a rescue mission. Brighton, well drilled and fluid, took advantage. Yet so many of the old issues remained.

The Reds are undone on opening day by the Seagulls and two first-half Pascal Gross goals.

However, with just over 20 minutes to go, the lead was halved, as a Fernandes corner was eventually turned into his own net by Alexis Mac Allister, as M16 rose once more in an attempt to spur on Ten Hag's men. Cristiano Ronaldo was introduced shortly after, as Ten Hag looked to fashion a way for his side to get back into the game. Gross added both his and Brighton's second just 10 minutes later, as the Reds were left with much work to do heading into the second half. Although the flag went up, replays seemed to suggest Ronaldo was onside and it would have counted. Christian Eriksen then almost topped off a superb flowing counter-attack with Ten Hag's side beginning to edge the early stages. VAR provided a long check as Sanchez appealed for a foul, and there was a review as to whether the ball inadvertently struck Dalot's arm before the keeper cannoned the ball into his own goal off Mac Allister.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion - Old Trafford Ronaldo came off the bench but couldn't help United win (Photo: ...

Danny Welbeck – An obvious focal point for the Brighton attack, Welbeck lost his footing when played in early on and might have done better when Caicedo dropped a cross on his head. Leandro Trossard – Harried hard and played the key pass in behind to open up United for the first goal. Solly March – Typically hard-working performance and made his presence felt at both ends. Lewis Dunk – Imperious in the air and growing as a distributor. Robert Sanchez – Had nothing to do for nearly an hour and then brilliantly denied Rashford one-on-one. Christian Eriksen – Got his feet a little tangled in the box when a speedy counter-attack ended with a chance to strike at goal. Scott McTominay – Was perhaps lucky only to see yellow for a follow-through that caught Caicedo high on the shin, but even that hampered him in in his inability to shut down counter-attacks. Was very lucky not to have a penalty given against him for a push on Welbeck too. Still developing an understanding with Martinez that at present seems non-existent. Harry Maguire – Was a little caught out by Welbeck’s run in behind, which eventually left United overloaded at the back post. Debutant Eriksen started as a “false nine” before Ten Hag threw Ronaldo on just seven minutes into the second half. It was no less than Brighton deserved although the two-goal advantage they ended up with at the break perhaps flattered them a little.

Get a report of the Manchester United vs. Brighton & Hove Albion 2022-23 English Premier League football match.

"I thought we had an idea of how to attack and when we could we tried to press and put them under pressure. It took Brighton 30 minutes to break United in a spell where they were putting on most of the pressure. "We went into the game positive, we had a good preseason and it was the worst possible start to be 2-0 down at half-time at Old Trafford. Not good enough. "We started pretty the game well and on the front foot and as a team we had control of the game. It was a nightmare start to be 2-0 down at half-time." "We need to look at not letting that first goal set us back as much as it did.