Manchester United failed to win their first competitive match under Erik ten Hag after Graham Potter’s Brighton & Hove Albion stunned the Old Trafford crowd by claiming a 2-1 victory in the English Premier League. Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench, and Christian Eriksen was handed his league debut for the club alongside Lisandro Martínez. Manchester United were down 0-2 at the end of the first half. A string of attacks led to an own goal from Brighton. They defended well for the rest of the game and took three points away from Manchester.
We’ve broken down all the key stats for you to digest, including;
* shot maps
* xT (expected threat)
* pass networks
* xG timelines
* defensive duels
* average positions and much more!
We also try to answer some questions for you with the visuals;
How many crosses were successfully delivered by Manchester United? What were the attack creation zones for Brighton?
To navigate the stats gallery, simply click on the numbers to move through the pages.
Manchester United started the match in a 4-3-1-2 formation, with Marcus Rashford playing as the striker. He was supported by Jadon Sancho along with Christian Eriksen. In the second half, Ten Hag introduced Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Portuguese international led the attack. Manchester United began attacking from the flanks once again.
Brighton started the game in a 3-5-1-1 formation. Former Manchester United player Danny Welbeck was in charge of the attack. Graham Potter changed his playing style twice during the game and eventually ended the match in a very defensive formation.
Manchester United had 57.6% of ball possession. They dominated possession in all phases except for a few minutes in the second half.
Brighton ended the match with 42.4% of ball possession. They scored two goals during the phase when they had more possession of the ball in the first half.
The Red Devils were involved in 28 positional attacks and a counterattack. They attempted eight shots from these positional attacks, with most of the threat coming from the right side.
Brighton were not very much behind their opponents, and they created 24 positional attacks, along with four counterattacks. The positional attacks led to seven shots, and counterattacks led to two shots. They were also more creative from the right side, but the highest threat was created by three positional attacks that started from the centre.
Manchester United players attempted 11 shots, with three shots on target. The first half was a bit dull for the hosts as they attempted only three shots, with one on target from Eriksen. The second half saw eight shots, with two on target and three above the crossbar.
The Seagulls had 14 attempts, with three on target. Most of the shots were attempted towards the right of De Gea.
Manchester United had a low xG rate of 0.79. The players attempted five shots from inside the opposition’s penalty box, of which two were on target. Most of the shots were attempted from the left side.
Brighton had a high xG rate of 1.85 as a result of their increased shot attempts from inside the opposition’s penalty box. Both goals were scored from inside the opposition’s 6-yard box.
Both teams had a low offensive duels win percentage. Manchester United players won 18 offensive duels, with most of the wins coming inside their half.
The Seagulls won 13 offensive duels, with most of the duels contested inside the attacking third.
The home team players attempted 530 passes with an accuracy rate of 82.08%. These included 164 forward passes and 22 crosses. Ten Hag’s men delivered 11 crosses with more success from the right side. Bruno Fernandes was behind seven crosses for Manchester United, successfully delivering three of them.
Brighton attempted half the number of crosses as their opponents but had a high accuracy rate as they delivered seven successful crosses. All the crosses attempted from the left successfully found a teammate inside the opposition’s penalty box.
Manchester United had a high count of 72 passes to the final third with an accuracy rate of 72.22%. Eriksen and Fernandes had the highest links between them, alongside Diogo Dalot and Jadon Sancho.
Brighton players attempted 43 passes to the final third with an accuracy rate of 65.12%. Adam Lallana and Welbeck were involved in four passes, with Lallana providing three of them.
The home team contested 181 duels and won 88. Most of the duels were contested on the left in the defensive half towards the right inside of the offensive half. The highest win count was on the left side in the middle third. Dalot contested 19 duels and won 11.
Brighton players won a lot of duels in the middle third and overall, won 78 duels. Most of the duels were contested inside the opposition’s half.
Defensively, the home team had a high win percentage for duels. They contested 48 duels and won 37. They lost only five duels inside their half. Martínez won seven defensive duels on his debut.
Brighton players contested 51 defensive duels and won 35. They lost most of their duels inside the opposition’s half and six inside their own.
Aerially, the home team contested 29 duels and won 11. Dalot won four duels for his side. They were unable to beat Brighton’s defence inside their box and also lost every duel inside their box.
The visitors contested 21 aerial duels and won eight. They also had a low win percentage inside their penalty box.
Manchester United players made more recoveries in the defensive third. They were solid on the left inside their half and on the right inside the opposition’s half. Martínez made 19 recoveries, most of them coming with the help of clever positioning by the player. Overall, 40 recoveries came in the defensive third, 35 in the middle third, and 12 in the final third.
Brighton players made 90 recoveries, with 37 coming inside the middle third and 16 in the final third.
Manchester United players were unable to create a lot of trouble for the opposition, and that ended their day with zero points. They started the game without a regular number nine due to injuries and a lack of attacking options. The manager will look to make one or two new signings and change some tactics that could earn him his first win as Manchester United’s manager.
Visuals via Wyscout