[Oly Francis]

All coaches (almost) need time, it was absolutely delusionnal to think that everyhing would instantly change with few recruits after a couple of good friendlies. Some posters on the Ten Hag appreciation thread were embarassing. He needs time and new players, there's no way around it.

 

[GreatDane]

Need a rb, dm and forward - this is not news to us fans, but maybe now it's also clear to Ten Hag and the checkbook guys.
That's the 'positive' I'm clinging on to from today.

 

[chicha14]

No wonder this lot can't stand Ronaldo. They can't stand being competitive and want to remain being mediocre.
Everyone besides Eriksen and Martinez to an extent were shite. That is only because they are new and have not realised the culture within the club is mediocrity is acceptable.

 

[Red_Aaron]

Brighton really are great to watch.
Movement, penetration, organised and confident and they also run all day. Full credit to them, they've a great coach in Potter

Hopefully we have a great coach too and eventually we're able to show what Brighton did today but he's got a hell of a job on his hands that's for sure

 

[Siorac]

Brighton seem to always play well and yet finish 12th every season.

They finished 9th last season.

 

[Moriarty]

Apparently we want Arnautovic

A Ralph recommendation maybe?

 

[Compton22]

I hope this match has shown to ETH that he cannot play Mctominay and Fred together again, they're simply not good enough. We did better with Eriksen dictating from deep and even Donny had a better game when he came on.

This is going to be a long season

 

[Houdini]

Eriksen an Dalot were good. The rest was dogshit.

- McFred makes my eyes bleed
- Bruno always trying Hollywood
- Rashford - too bad
- Maguire - too slow
.- Martinez - too short
- Ronaldo- who?

 

[KikiDaKats]

We need a DM and play a false 9 ever again.

 

[iammemphis]

Maguire inspires absolutely no confidence at all. He's not even good enough to be described as mediocre.

 

[.Phil1968]

Still need 4 signings to go straight into the first team. McTominay and Fred should never play for us again.

 

[Zen86]

Very Ole-esque display I thought. Not much has changed in that regard. We need more than de Jong to significantly improve this team.

 

[Solius]

They finished 9th last season.

Basically 12th then.

 

[sdb4884]

Fred and McTominay should have had their cards marked. Fringe Players.

 

[JP77]

I'd say it's clear as daylight that the midfield is a huge issue. They can't control or dictate games and that ends up effecting both our defence and attack. Put two quality midfielders in front of the centre backs and attack and it'll flow a hell of a lot better than it is. McTominay and Fred don't work at this level as a partnership, they get absolutely overran and will continue to do so. It's clear that most of the youngsters aren't good enough to replace them either.

There's still too many core players causing issues. Shaw being an absolute key to that, insane that he's still starting for us.

 

[PoTMS]

Just came back from the game. Absolute shite doesn't even begin to explain it.

 

[Jazz]

We just need to not get relegated and win Europa league. Easy peasy...

 

[Red_toad]

Difference in the second half when we actually had a midfielder who showed for the ball, rather than positioning themselves behind an opposition player giving the defenders no out ball. Fred & McTommy should now have to earn another chance, as Eriksen showed exactly what they simply do not do.
Hope the Glazer creature who turned up is proud of his recruitment departments pathetic efforts at improving vital areas.
Genuine need for a quality holding midfielder, right-back and another striker all very evident.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Horrendous performance.

Only hope is that we back ETH big time in the next few weeks. More likely we get players like Arnautovic.

 

[Sandikan]

We’ll be lucky to finish in the top 6 if McFred is our midfield pairing for this season. Simply not good enough, never has been and certainly never will be.

I know it's one game, but 6th might not be the bottom end we all assumed.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Oh and as soon as Sky put up that stat of Brighton never winning at Old Trafford...it felt inevitable we'd lose.

Every single time!

 

[Gordon S]

Not sure how it is possible but there was no sign of improvement. A few set pieces and some shoots from distance were all we could get today.
My expectations were not that high but honestly thought we would at least see some attacks with good movement and passing.

 

[JPRouve]

My kneejerk observation is that unfortunately my lack of negativity regarding McFred has been crushed. Bruno, Shaw and Rashford are problems. Dalot, Maguire and Sancho showed their good and bad sides but all three of them seem to be workable.

Now the good sides are that Martinez should be our first exit solution and he has PL level aggression. Ronaldo had a positive impact and Eriksen turned our dysfunctional midfield into a decent one just by playing deeper despite having to suffer a poor McTominay next to him.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Top 4 is lost, even top 6 looks hard at the moment.

 

[GreatDane]

Eriksen an Dalot were good. The rest was dogshit.

- McFred makes my eyes bleed
- Bruno always trying Hollywood
- Rashford - too bad
- Maguire - too slow
.- Martinez - too short
- Ronaldo- who?

Dalot was good? Really? He was shit. Again.

 

[daveskimufc]

Bad. Bad. Bad.
Fernandes needs to know he can be dropped just like everyone else. Goals weren't the cbs fault, I thought they did ok. Mcfred need to be dropped for youth. Give iqbal and hannibal some time, they can't be any worse and might show a little more fight.

 

[RedRonaldo]

There is still some time, I hope we buy someone to replace McFred and Rashford.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Shit performance from everyone, Ten Hag with a terrible start.

Not bothered about the loss, it's the overall performance of the team, lack of intensity, lack of awareness, and lack of ideas, carbon copy of performances from last season.

These players don't know how to work as a team at all, clueless while looking at each other.

 

[cyril C]

I expected some bumps this season but not that early. We played better second half but it was all too late.

Brighton seem to always play well and yet finish 12th every season.

This is going to take time and we’ll have worse results than this. I think it feels more frustrating because it’s the first game and all that new season excitement just dies.

False 9, fullback tug inside, we just need the code book from Pep. Or ask Arteta for a copy, who knows a thing or 2

 

[killerboi2]

Feels like we've tried everything regarding managers. We need a clearout of the players as soon as possible.

 

[mitchmouse]

Our goal summed up the performance and, just like so often last season, having got a goal back we didn't threaten again. Same old same old: no pace, passing back and forth three yards between the same players and missing good chances.

Beyond awful: Sancho, Maguire, Rashford, Dalot, DDG, Bruno, Scott MT. Not much better: everyone else. Made an ordinary side look very very good. I guess the only positives were that eriksen looked a bit better when he played in midfield but I have no idea why ETH made the changes so late. Just what did rashford do to deserve to say on? Why no changes on 60-70 mins? Poor from the manager too.

is there a slower CB in world football than Maguire?

Need to get 2-3 signings in before the window closes or we might not even be top 10.

We'll lose 2-0 at Brentford next week

 

[RedIan]

Well the Optimism didnt last long. Brighton ripped open our soft centre at will first half.
We have known for 3 years Mcfred are dog shit and here we are again still stuck with this pairing…
fannying around in the transfer market will cost us.. get some quality in midfield bought and get mcfred moved on.

 

[GMoore23]

Nothing like a win in the opening week to boost confidence. Well done Brighton.

 

[moodyred]

ETH to players: guys I need you to help lose this match so they will open the cheque book and sign more players.

No problem boss. We will play like we normally do.

 

[Someone]

An overall poor performance by everyone.

Maguire shits himself every time he has the ball, and still can hold an offside line.
Rashford is still the same.
Bruno is still too casual, unreliable, and still keeps falling on his arse and costing us a counter.
Mcfred, nothing to say, both shouldn't start together ever, or at all.

ETH game management was poor. All in all more of the same.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

I miss the off-season period already.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Hopefully that highlights just how badly we need midfielders. Fred and McT are just the worst midfield two in the league. Fred +1 is better, but we should still improve on them both. As a unit though, just horrible.

VDB looked better in 15 minutes than McT has for ages, and he was poor too, bar a couple of good touches.

I forgot Rashford was even playing until he missed that 1v1.

I don't think there was a single positive. Eriksen maybe, we looked a little better in the middle when he moved deeper.


Woohoo, football is back!

 

[reddyornot]

Its only live once.
Thank God for that.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

People saying Sancho will come alive this season... don't think so, he's bang average. Rashford isn't a good player either.

 

[steffyr2]

we still suck. midfield was atrocious as usual. toothless attack largely because the midfield is so so bad and can't get them the ball[. defense was shaky. better 2nd half but even with the increased intensity it was complete blunder by the brighton keeper to make it nervy for themselves.

Pretty much this. Plus the starters ran out of steam the second half...I don't know if they were pressing or not, but they slowed to a walk when they were only 1 goal down. I thought that that was a thing that wouldn't happen this year? There was no composure -- a player is standing there wide open and the pass goes to the flock of defenders on the other side of the pitch.