Sometimes prayers of fans are answered by the club
management when they sign a certain player or any credible player for a desired
position, but the players needs time to adapt and play their natural game grow
into a fans worth associating with from mere prayers. Fred and Andreas Pereira
fall into this category of prayers. Fans wished for management to sign a
central midfielder [Fred] and to retain a home grown (developed in this case)
[Pereira] to be signed this term, management granted both the wishes. Did it
turn out as the fans hoped for? One needs to watch today’s match to find out.
Chaotic and all over the place is a best and simplistic way to define their
performance. Their raw energy was clearly visible but an output worthy of
Manchester United player was clearly lacking. They will be made scapegoats for
this loss. But were they the only ones? Did management answer prayers of all
the ones involved with the club?
Mourinho clearly wanted an experienced defender, he would be
happy that his need would be vindicated when Woodward watches the highlights of
today’s match. Unfortunately for fans and Mourinho, today’s wishes and
vindication came in at a great cost; A spineless performance from the team.
Defending by Lindelof and Bailey today was amateurish by
Premier League Standards; Mourinho needs to be patient with the pair since the continuous
chopping and changing last year hasn’t helped them in developing a meaningful
performance. Each of the goals conceded
were due to poor defending by the central pair and there was no hiding from
that. If their game dropped due to the mistakes, then they need to strengthen
up mentally and show the class which made Mourinho sign them up. Ashley Young
and Luke Shaw had not much do in the game where the game was primarily played through
the middle. Defensively they were ok; however they left lot to be desired in
attacking sense with Shaw in particular trying too hard. Fitness of Shaw is encouraging
and he needs to more of the same every week and show the consistency in order
to fulfill his talents.
Midfield players are supposed to support central defenders by
shielding them and stopping the attacks to begin with. However, Fred and
Pereira who played the game badly as though it was a street fight. They were all
over the park and with no positioning in their entire game time. If one watches
the highlights of only United’s plays; number of times Fred missed kicking the
ball in simplest of situations shows that he was nervous and too eager at times
to make an impact and missing it by miles. Pereira having matured into a better
player by playing in La Liga; showed with this performance that he is not yet
ready for a starting role in a Premier league match and for a team where
expectations are high. Their performances affected other players around them
badly and no one else had a good day to cover up the mistakes of these four
players.
Paul Pogba named captain for the second straight game had a
horrible game where none of forward passes made any semblance of difference. He
lost his cool too often to vindicate Mourinho’s stand of not naming him
permanent captain. His penalty at the end was well taken but he couldn’t
inspire his players around him earlier in the game when they needed the most ;
one of the critical characteristic of a captain and a leader. Not that his
players were willing to take inspiration; Anthony Martial handed a rare start
in the absence of injured Alexis Sanchez, did little to convince the manager
and the fans of his value. Marital should have made better use of the chances
he got before the game drifted away from United but his failure to make use of
this opportunity will come back to haunt him. Martial will have to put in more
focussed effort both in the training ground and in the matches to become a
better player and fulfilling his talents. Juan Mata was in no man’s land
throughout the match and is not suited for the role of floater in which he was
employed today. Its worrisome that there is no role defined to get the best out
of player like Mata who is used to unlock defences in the premier league. At the
least he could’ve taken the corner kick chances but that responsibility was
curiously handed over to Young who just kept sending the floaters which served
no purpose to anyone. Romelu Lukaku opened his season account with a well taken
goal but before missing an easy chance for a player of his stature, which could’ve
changed the tone of the remaining match.
Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Felliani did their best
after coming on however couldn’t change the outcome of the match in the chaotic
second half where every United player scrambled for the ball. Brighton were
shrewd enough to know that entire United team were having a bad and kept the
game simple enough to frustrate United without giving them any chance on the
counter or allowing them to build any sort of a cohesive play. David De Gea on
his part did his best to parry the shots away but he could do nothing about the
three goals which were conceded. He might have start worrying about carrying
United’s defence again through the season.
Mourinho was a class act today. He set up his team well, on
paper, to dominate Brighton but was let down by very big individual mistakes by
his players. He refused to point out anyone or throw them to the public and
credited the opposition for making use of mistakes by his players. He made
attacking changes on the interval having realised going all out was the only
way to win this game. He should be worried that his players couldn’t muster a
single shot on target in the second half which clearly looks like a training
ground issue. With the departure of Rui Faria; no one is clear yet on who is
running the training and how much of an influence Michael Carrick is on the
training ground. This is clearly a season of transition for Mourinho without
the staff he is more accustomed to. Mourinho will be hoping for Nemanja Matic
to return to fitness at the earliest so that he can expect his team control the
match. He has proven right now with his demands of an experience defender and
United achieving second spot last season as his biggest achievement. If he is a
man for a challenge, this United team will be biggest challenge in this era of
Premier League. However, it was a welcome change to see him taking an attacking
approach to the game; but these are early days and one shouldn’t be cautious
not to talk about change in philosophy. This squad has the talent to win games
and it is upto the manger now to mould the squad into a team credible enough to
win games every week.
Next up is Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford, Tottenham
play an open game irrespective of opponent or stadium. They will be waiting to
pounce on weakness shown by United in midfield and defence. Whatever happens in
the next match, this season is going to be a bumpy ride for the fans, players
and Mourinho alike.
