Manchester United and Erik ten Hag will face an inquest again after their bogey team Brighton got another one over them with a late winner.
Brighton have now won five of the last six meetings between these two teams but unlike others, this one was very avoidable.
In fact, Manchester United could have even gone on to win the game if not for a remarkably unlucky offside decision for Garnacho’s ‘goal’ that never was.
Ultimately, they were sucker punched late on but Rio Ferdinand has now said that Brighton’s winner could have been avoided had Erik Ten Hag not made one wrong decision.
Rio Ferdinand‘s scrutiny on Ten Hag
Phil Jones noticed a pattern to both of the goals United conceded but Ferdinand’s review of United’s performance was more player-centric.
Ten Hag made all five changes, with Antony in injury time the final one and it was among these changes that Ferdinand thought Ten Hag made a big mistake.
He said Brighton’s goal in injury time could have been avoided had United kept someone on the pitch who knows how to organise a defence with his vocal leadership.
Enter Harry Maguire, who Ferdinand said was United’s ‘best defender’, and could have helped them avoid Brighton’s winner.
Ferdinand said: “I actually thought Harry Maguire grew into the game and played very well. I think he was the best defender for Manchester United, best centre-back definitely today, as the game grew on defensively.
“I was a bit surprised when he was brought off actually. And we were talking, I think, if he had been on the pitch, maybe he would have been the one to be leading and vocalising to people to get into positions on that second phase from the set piece.”
Harry Maguire is stepping up
Matthijs de Ligt, of course, is building up his match fitness after missing the entire pre-season but Harry Maguire is making a very strong case to keep his place right now.
He was the unsung hero vs Fulham as well and while the display against Brighton wasn’t as assertive, he was still one of the better performers.
Maguire was often the deepest centre-half and allowed Lisandro Martinez to step up from the defensive line and hurry the attackers.
There were some unconvincing moments, as defensive breakdowns resulted in Kaoru Mitoma getting on the end of a searching cross, only to put the ball back in from which Welbeck scored.
However, the second goal, for which Maguire wasn’t on the pitch, was even more egregious when Joao Pedro could have sipped his tea in the United box before heading the winner.
For all his faults, Maguire has started the season in fine form. Matthijs de Ligt hasn’t done anything wrong in his small cameos, but Maguire has done pretty much everything right to keep his place for now.
Ultimately, the beneficiary will be Man United, who have multiple quality options in defence now.
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