Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Too many Manchester United players lacked aggression and quality in the defeat to Brighton.
There were very different emotions at Old Trafford in the opening and final 10 minutes of the 3-2 defeat to Brighton in the Carabao Cup.
Goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount gave United an early lead, but what followed was an unforgivable collapse against a much more motivated and energetic side.
Michael Carrick opted to rotate his side and field an inexperienced centre-back partnership of Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro. Both failed to deliver, and there was a worrying list of players who failed to win a single tackle against the Seagulls.
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The Man United players who didn’t make a tackle vs Brighton
United players were booed off at full-time against Brighton, and rightly so. There was an alarming lack of effort from several players, and the statistics reflect it.
As per SofaScore’s numbers, there was a quartet of United players who didn’t win a single tackle against Brighton.
Diogo Dalot (0/2)
Benjamin Sesko (0/0)
Andrey Santos (0/2)
Leny Yoro (0/3)
Diogo Dalot and Andrey Santos both attempted two tackles but didn’t win either. The latter did win 10 of his 11 duels, though.
Leny Yoro had the worst tackle rate, failing to win any of his three attempts.
Then there was Benjamin Sesko, who played an isolated role up front for United, often being tasked with chasing hopeful long passes with little success. Sesko didn’t win a tackle, nor did he even attempt one.
Man United players outworked by Brighton
United started brightly, but completely took their foot off the gas after taking a two-goal lead.
Brighton looked more disciplined, better coached, more organised and more threatening for the remaining 80 minutes of the match.
READ MORE: Michael Carrick will be embarrassed by alarming trend across all Brighton goals vs Man United
Michael Carrick took responsibility for the defeat in his post-match comments, and there will be huge question marks around the coaching staff after that performance.
But that doesn’t remove blame from players who were easily beaten and outworked by Brighton in almost every department.