One year ago: Solskjaer talks up ‘exhilarating and entertaining’ United display

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Winning matches at home used to be a matter of routine for Manchester United.

Old Trafford is no longer considered a fortress, especially in this era where games being played behind closed doors takes away the atmosphere of playing in front of 76,000 spectators.

United have lost three of four home matches in the Premier League this season.

Fortunately the away form has been better, but with United’s first match back after the break coming at Old Trafford at home to West Bromwich Albion, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must figure out a way to fix it.

He could do worse than looking back at one year ago to this date last year. United beat Brighton 3-1 at Old Trafford and the scoreline could easily have been higher.

United had 21 shots at goal in the win, a dominant one sided display unlike anything we have seen at Old Trafford in the Premier League this season.

For comparison, in the recent defeat at home to Arsenal, United and only eight shots at goal.

Solskjaer said of the 2019 win against Brighton, via BBC Sport: “It was exhilarating and entertaining. How we didn’t end up with five, six or seven I don’t know.”

United were helped by a naive attacking approach from Brighton on the day. Solskjaer’s side responded in the best way possible, to move into the top seven.

The star man that day was Fred. A year on, the Brazilian continues to grow into a key role at the club.

Andreas Pereira, via a deflection, Scott McTominay, and Marcus Rashford were United’s scorers.

The match also saw Dan James put in one of his better attacking performances for United, crossing for Rashford for his goal.

While James is a long way from being what United need right now, it demonstrated the qualities a winger can bring to a team lacking invention.

‘Exhilarating and entertaining’

These are words which cannot be associated with Manchester United’s home form in the Premier League this season.

Solskjaer needs to get United back to this. It should not be such a chore to break teams down.

One way to accomplish this is to be more direct tactically. United should mix up the approach of trying to play the ball out from the back and be quicker to get the ball upfield.

United are too slow and predictable and give teams time to adjust defensively. It has been tough to watch.

The Brighton win a year ago was more of an exception to the rule early last season, but it showed what United were capable of.

There needs to be a similar response against West Brom. Then United have Champions League home matches against Istanbul Basaksehir and PSG, before hosting Manchester City, Leeds, and Wolves in December.

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