Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag admitted that his side had a “difficult” day as they lost 3-1 to brighton, but believes they were not as far off as the scoreline suggests.
It was the third consecutive time the Seagulls have beaten the Red Devils, who have now lost three of their first five games of the new Premier League campaign – the first time they have ever done so.
The Dutchman felt that Man United were the better side early on in the contest, but their inability to convert attacking opportunities was their downfall. “We are disappointed, but it was really small margins,” he told Sky Sports.
“We are so close against a good side. The first 20 minutes was all ours. We created chances but didn’t score. We conceded a goal with their first attack.
“We then had a period in the game that was quite difficult, we fought to get a goal and it was disallowed. So it is difficult in this period.
“It has not fallen on our side, but we will fight back and if we stick together, play as a team, stick to the rules, we will return.”
The result leaves them outside the top half of the Premier League table, but Ten Hag did see the positive side of his team’s performance. “You learn many things from such a game,” he said.
“From the mental side, you can keep strong in moments but I have seen some good stuff. the way we created many chances we are just not finishing them, but that will change.”
Danny Welbeck returned to Old Trafford to haunt his former club, finding the net in the 20th minute. Rasmus Hojlund thought he had put United on level terms with his first goal for the club, but the ball was judged to have gone over the endline before Marcus Rashford passed it to the Dane.
United’s woes continued in the second half as Pascal Gross took advantage of some poor defending to strike home shortly after the interval. Substitute Joao Pedro put Brighton three up in the 71st minute not long after coming off the bench.
Hannibal Mejbri got one back for United just moments later, but they failed to make a contest of it in the final 20 minutes as Roberto De Zerbi’s men saw out a huge victory.
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