Before welcoming Brighton, MU suffered a series of troubles on and off the field. If the fans still reacted to demand the American owner to leave, the "Red Devils" were also in turmoil internally.
MU is losing direction in the early stages of this season.
The Old Trafford team's performance on the pitch at the beginning of this season was also quite disappointing. Before round 5, MU ranked 11th in the Premier League table with 2 wins and 2 losses. However, both of their victories were not convincing and they had to rely on luck to overcome Wolves (1-0) and Nottingham Forest (3-2 after being 2 goals down).
The "Red Devils" are not in a good mood when entering this match with a series of internal conflicts. Star winger Antony is absent because he faces accusations of assaulting his girlfriend and two other women. Meanwhile, coach Erik ten Hag has been embroiled in an argument with young talent Jadon Sancho since the loss to Arsenal in the previous round. Not to mention, before the match against Brighton, MU had to push striker Mason Greenwood to play for Getafe (Spain) after the incident of assaulting his girlfriend...
Coach Ten Hag (right) is under enormous pressure.
The troubles overshadowed the first start for striker Rasmus Hojlund, while new defender Sergio Reguilon made his debut for United fans. And against underdog Brighton, the "Red Devils" faced another crisis.
The visitors silenced Old Trafford when Danny Welbeck opened the scoring in the 20th minute. Sadly, Welbeck was a product of MU's training academy but had to leave in 2014 due to not being trusted by former coach Louis van Gaal.
Coach Ten Hag's team showed a disappointing face afterwards when the attack was deadlocked and the defense created many gaps for the opponent. MU's hope of a comeback also faded in the second half when they received 2 more goals with goals from Pascal Gross (minute 53) and Joao Pedro (minute 71).
The Red Devils' most positive moment in the match was a beautiful goal from outside the penalty area by substitute Hannibal Mejbri in the 73rd minute. However, Mejbri's goal to reduce the score to 1-3 was not enough to help the home team make a comeback. Ironically, this 20-year-old Tunisian midfielder is said to be preparing to leave MU after often sitting on the bench.
Man City continue to thrive
The defeat to Brighton not only left MU stuck in the bottom half of the rankings, but also raised the possibility that coach Ten Hag might have difficulty keeping his job. After 5 rounds, the Old Trafford team is 9 points behind the leader Man City, who maintained their perfect record this season when defeating hosts West Ham 3-1. In contrast to their rivals in the same city of Manchester, Man City continued to flourish thanks to goals from new signings Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva.
Meanwhile, Liverpool came from behind to beat Wolves 3-1 to move up to second place, 2 points behind Man City.
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