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Manchester United legend Gary Neville has said that the club’s loss to Brighton and Hove Albion does not bode well for Erik ten Hag’s future at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag narrowly survived a poor 2023/24 season that saw United finish in eighth position, largely due to masterminding a 2-1 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Many expected Sir Jim Ratcliffe to sack him but after a lengthy end-of-season review, the Red Devils elected to afford him more time to turn the situation around.
After a positive opening to the Premier League season courtesy of beating Fulham 1-0, United’s progress suffered a setback as they lost 2-1 to Brighton at the Amex earlier today.
Amad Diallo cancelled out Danny Welbeck’s first-half opener. Alejandro Garnacho looked to have overturned the deficit by finishing off an exquisite counter-attack, but his goal was chalked off after Joshua Zirkzee was deemed to have touched the ball on the line.
A headed finish from Joao Pedro in the dying moments of stoppage time sealed United’s fate and denied them a share of the spoils.
Neville spoke on NBC Sports (via The Daily Mail) and remarked, “A really depressing end to the game.”
“I thought a draw would have been half acceptable but to lose the game puts an awful lot of pressure on Erik ten Hag and on towards the game next week against Liverpool.”
“I think the first half of the game I don’t think anyone was surprised.”
“It’s very difficult to play football without a centre forward. You need a focal point up front and he corrected that at half-time by bringing [Joshua] Zirkzee on, but you’ve already wasted 45 minutes in the match and that’s a problem.”
“In the second half, and the first goal was poor defensively, but that last goal I’ve just watched it, when you clear from a corner you’ve got to still defend as you would the second phase of a corner.”
Neville added, “In particular if you watch Casemiro it looks to me like he leaves his position at the back post and goes back into central midfield but it then leaves acres of space in the back zone.”
“A lack of concentration, a lack of focus, and it does put some pressure on them.”
During his presser, Ten Hag himself bemoaned the manner in which United conceded against Brighton, as he branded both goals as “soft.”
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2024-08-24 18:30:42
