Once again, our starting XI was questionable even if it looked better on paper. 4 of our 11 consisted of players who lacked match sharpness and/or fitness.
- Wan-Bissaka: no pre-season, no international football, and played 2 matches in 5 days
- Maguire: played 3 matches in 7 days
- Matic: no pre-season, no international football [retired], and played 2 matches in 5 days
- Pogba: no pre-season, no international football, lack of training due to COVID-19
Why select these four players in Premier League matches? Why didn't we go with a midfield 2 out of Fred, van de Beek, and McTominay? Why didn't we go with one of Dalot or Fosu-Mensah at right back? In this case, regardless of who we have on the bench, we should look to have the fittest possible starting XI in the Premier League and use the League Cup to let the players gain their fitness and sharpness. For whatever reason, though, we are taking a risk by going with players who aren't fit and sharp enough in the Premier League. Heck, we could have even had van de Beek in place of one of Greenwood or Martial given that he's sharper than those two.
When you find that two of the players who aren't fit enough are in our midfield, then that would explain why we struggled to take control of the match. We gave Brighton way too much space to play around us, and they rarely felt under pressure on the ball. The fact that we had our players spread out to try and create spaces failed us miserably; there were several occasions where Brighton's players outnumbered us and forced us back as a result. We played way too many long balls towards the middle, too, instead of to the flanks. If there are no short-passing options available, and everyone's spreading out, the best long pass to play is a diagonal out to the flank, not a straight pass through the middle, especially when the forwards aren't dropping deeper to drag defenders away.
However, we weren't all that terrible. In the second half, we saw glimpses of what made us so good, but it was too little too late. We made great use of the space on the left, and our counters left Brighton worried. The players played in shorter distances with each other and were able to combine better as a result. However, after ~15 minutes, the players started to fatigue, and we started to get sloppy on the ball. Martial, especially, was starting to become more prominent, but he fatigued quickly. Greenwood also got tired and is also receiving way more attention from the opposition. Rashford and Fernandes were bigger threats in the second half and kept Brighton in check. Fred also did a good job when he came on and allowed us to play on the counter whenever we kept the ball.
Our defending in the wide areas was absolutely diabolical. Brighton had an easy time putting the majority of crosses into the box. Their wide were barely closed down, and they were given way too much time to put the ball in. Shaw's typically good at these 1-on-1 battles, but instead of closing down the crosser, he kept hanging back to stop any potential overlapping pass. It didn't help that he had Matic (not fit) and Rashford (not tracking back well) to work with, but he still could have taken charge and attempted to close down the crosses. Wan-Bissaka was in an even more problematic situation; he had barely any football, he had less rest than most of his teammates, and he had barely any support from either Pogba or Greenwood.
TL;DR:
- Ole: Questionable selection and lack of adaption to the team's lack of fitness and sharpness
- We had moments in the 2nd half, but fatigue brought us back down
- Terrible defending of wide areas again
