Manchester United’s season took another hammer blow as they were dumped out the FA Cup by Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Red Devils went down 2-1 at home to the Seagulls, their bogey team, to make Darren Fletcher’s first game as interim manager at Old Trafford one to forget.
Cunha didn’t turn up
Despite producing 19 shots United only managed one goal, Benjamin Sesko heading home what turned out to be a consolation goal in the final minutes.
It was another toothless attacking display as the forward line flopped once again, and Matheus Cunha was one of the worst offenders.
The Brazilian continued to show his selfish streak and was wasteful in front of goal, and all three of his shots skewed off target.
He also lost possession a massive 24 times in a hugely disappointing performance. Only Bruno Fernandes gave the ball away more (25 times), but the captain was much more productive in possession than Cunha.
Cunha found his man with only 24 of his attempted 36 passes, and his 67% passing accuracy was the second-worst of any United player.
Only Sesko fared worse in this metric, but he only attempted seven passes in the whole match.
Bright flashes
To his credit, Cunha did manage two key passes and created one big chance, but neither of his attempted crosses was successful.
The Brazilian was also United’s most effective player in duels, winning nine of 19 attempted – more than anyone else in red. He came off second best in both contested aerial duels.
Similarly he completed the most dribbles of anyone on the pitch, beating his man three times from six attempts.
Matheus Cunha vs. Brighton and Hove Albion
Player Matheus Cunha
Goals 0
Assists 0
Big chances created 1
Key passes 2
Crosses (accurate) 2 (0)
Accurate passes 24/36 (67%)
Passes in opposition half (acc.) 18/26 (69%)
Passes in own half (acc.) 6/10 (60%)
Long balls (accurate) 2/4 (50%)
Total shots 3
Shots on target 0
Shots blocked 0
Touches 63
Unsuccessful touches 4
Dribbles (successful) 6 (3)
Was fouled 4
Possession lost 24
Def. contributions 2
Tackles (won) 2 (1)
Interceptions 0
Clearances 0
Blocked shots 0
Recoveries 5
Ground duels (won) 17 (9)
Aerial duels (won) 2 (0)
Fouls 2
Dribbled past 1
No player on either side was fouled as often as Cunha – four times – which shows he was causing Brighton problems, but much of the rest of his performance made life difficult for his own team.
Stats taken from sofascore.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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