Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba struggled against Manchester Unitedplaceholder image
Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba struggled against Manchester United | AFP via Getty Images
Reaction from Brighton’s defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford
Carlos Baleba was criticised for his performance during Brighton’s 4-2 loss to Manchester United on Saturday night.
The Seagulls were far from their best against Ruben Amorim’s team and slipped to 12th in the Premier League.
Two strikes from Bryan Mbeumo and one each for Brazilians Matheus Cunha and Casemiro cancelled out goals from Albion’s Danny Welbeck and Charamlampos Kostoulas.
Much of the build up to the match featured around Carlos Baleba as Manchester United tried to sign the Cameroon international from Brighton last summer.
The deal failed to materialise but the speculation has impacted the 21-year-old this term. He has been substituted three times at halftime and is yet to complete 90 minutes for Brighton this campaign. Baleba was booked in the first half and hooked once again at Old Trafford as James Milner replaced him on the hour.
Jamie Redknapp: ‘The worst I have seen Brighton’
Baleba was one of a number of Brighton players who struggled during the defeat in Manchester. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp said: “I was so disappointed with Brighton today. That was one of the worst I have ever seen them. It had something to do with how good Man United were as well.
“Brighton are difficult to predict because they can have these high moments but today everyone just seemed a little bit off it.
“Baleba in midfield. We built him up before the game but he was really poor and [Yasin] Ayari just did not get going. They never got close to the Manchester United midfield.”
Hurzeler fumes at individual mistakes
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was far from impressed with the display.
“It's easy to summarise this game, so too many easy mistakes on our side,” said the German. “We gave the ball too easy and like this you can't win the game.
“We had good actions, we were always in danger in their half, in their box, but in the end if you do two easy mistakes like we did and make them four presents, you can't win the game.
“It's as easy as I explained. Of course United did well in the first half, but then you have to do the small margins right, it's about which foot you pass, how you're positioned when you receive the ball, how you find the free-teammate, how calm you stay, how you're attaining the execution.
“If you face a team that presses man-to-man it's all about attaining the execution. It's about the angles you create and we weren't on the highest level and then we made the mistakes and I think of course how the goals went in.
“On the one side it was luck, on the other side individual quality.”
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