As referee Andrew Madley blew all the time, fear ensued.
Another public humiliation was suffered and a new collective autopsy would begin.
Still, there was something wrong with Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat of Brighton on Saturday. As United fans chanted songs against Glaser at the visiting Amex Stadium and told the club’s players that they were not fit to wear the shirt, there was a chill in the rage. Feeling that this has happened before.
It is good to make new mistakes on the path of growth. It is careless to repeat the same. Moreover, it is deeply frustrating for the people around you to watch the same consequences happen despite repeated warnings. Against Brighton United were humiliated, humble and divided in a way unseen by … previous humiliations this season against Liverpool, Manchester City and, um, Watford.
How can one explain a humiliating football game when the same awkward events keep happening?
Paraphrasing an animated horse (“I had a lot of what I thought of a rock bottom, only to find another, more rocky bottom below” by Bojack Horseman), every time the United class of 2021-2022 believes they are Reaching the bottom, they try to find another one below.
They have 58 points, leaving only one game in the league. Regardless of the result in the visit of Crystal Palace in this match on May 22, this will be the worst season for the club in the 30s of the Premier League. United cannot finish higher than their current position in sixth place, as they are four points behind fifth-placed Tottenham; the only danger that remains is whether their former manager West Moyes at West Ham United can overtake them with their game in hand and a far better goal difference, pushing Ralph Rangnik’s team to seventh place.
There is no single way to describe United’s collapse of Amex. So, here’s The Athletic trying a few.
Addressing tactical shortcomings
United faced Brighton with the same starting XI, which triumphed over Brentford at Old Trafford on Monday, and for much of Amex’s initial exchanges, it seemed that Rangnik had ordered his players to repeat the same game plan as Juan Mata continued his game. . a short Indian summer as United’s number 10 while Bruno Fernandes played from the left. The two playmakers were in constant conversation with each other during pauses in the game, Mata was trying to offer a variety of passes and a slower pace of attack to Fernandes’ higher octane efforts.
But what was successful against Brentford was against Brighton. After the hosts ranked 3-4-2-1, flanks Soli March and Leandro Trosar defeated declining Mata, who turned 34 last week, and stern Anthony Elanga, who left his teens last week, out wide to reveal the final United defenders before either crossing the ball into the penalty area or working inside for passes.
Brighton’s center-left defender Mark Cucurela also often came out ahead, leaving Diogo Dalot defeated in two-on-one duels. In the central zones, Yves Bisuma and Moses Caicedo formed a solid base, and Brighton defended with a collective counter-pressure effort, harassing Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominey whenever United managed to rule.
At half time Brighton had only one goal ahead, thanks to a long effort by Caicedo in the 15th minute, but see the map of their middle position of the first 45 minutes (№ 3 is Kukurela; again he was the left center of Brighton – back)…
… Compared to that of Ranknik.
In the first half, United were completely superior, ahead and superior, unable to take the ball out of their own territory in the central areas or to push the ball with any goal further. The long balls to Cristiano Ronaldo (unfortunately for Rangnik on the side) saw him fall deep to throw the ball, but they were not as successful as against Brentford.
In the second half, Rangnik replaced Matic and Elanga with Fred and Edinson Cavani at the break and went into a 4-2-2-2 form.
This requires a different style of explanation.
Statistical analysis
The collapse of United occurred in a period of 11 minutes, starting with a goal by Kukurela in the 49th minute and ending with a final by Trosar in the 60th minute.
For 11 minutes, United went from a vague chance of scoring to a 4-0 humiliation.
Check out Brighton’s timeline for the game below – they were uneconomical in creating a chance, while it wasn’t much.
The three goals in the second half came from a team that felt good in the possession of football, playing against insecure when without him.
Brighton created a numerical advantage on the right, before a diagonal pass on the left found Trosar, who assisted Kukurela for the second goal. The third came from a long pass from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who found the unrestrained Kukurela on the left; he contacted Trossard again, who then scored for Pascal Gross. The final insult came three minutes later, at a time when a sensible move on the pass led the ball to move from left to Brighton to the right, before Danny Welbeck found a place behind Rafael Varane for a goal attempt scored by Trosar.
Eleven minutes brought Brighton three goals through sensible, not spectacular football.
“I remember watching the game against Watford as a guest, 4-1 (the defeat in November, which cost the work of predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer), who now fell out and it looked very similar to what happened today,” Rangnik suggested after match.
“For me, the problem is how to defend as a team in this league, if you play against good teams – and Brighton is a good team – if you don’t defend properly, if you just let them play and give them all the space and time in the world.” that’s the result. “
Brighton created their wave of goals, using United’s long-standing weakness at Ranknik. The interim manager spent his term trying to get the country to defend in a compact 4-4-2 form, but they left too much space between their midfield and defense line so that opposing teams could easily play.
United recorded a PDDA of 14.9 on Saturday, suggesting there was no intensity in their defensive efforts outside the ball and largely allowed Brighton to pass without much trouble or pressure.
Ranking was once called the “Godfather of Gegenpressing”, but United are 15th in the Premier League with 20 PPDA teams, allowing their opponents to play an average of 14.4 passes before intervening.
In the 24th minute, referee Madley twice allowed an advantage to be played so that Brighton could continue the counterattack, which was almost thwarted by McTominey’s deliberate withdrawal and Elanga’s strike. United are at a time when they are even struggling to make cynical, preventive fouls.
In February, Southampton manager Ralph Hazenhuttle said: “It’s no secret that when they (United) lose the ball, reverse speeds are not the best of all.” Moments before Brighton’s third goal came in, Rangnik could be seen on the goal line, gesturing to the United players to rise higher on the pitch, only to keep his team fairly static while Sanchez’s long pass to Kukurela rise above their heads.
Brighton’s fourth stems first from the fact that Victor Lindelof rushed from the defense in an attempt to deal with Alexis McAllister …
… But the Brighton midfielder hit a pass for the first time, leaving Lindelof out of position and with space behind. In his honor, the Swede is doing everything possible to withdraw quickly, but by the time Gross enters the ball, Welbeck and Trosar have made their way into the winning central zones.
Varane – who had many shocking moments on Saturday – then missed his attempt to block Gross’s pass and Welbeck managed to get in the door.
Rangnik denied there was a discrepancy between his instructions and the team’s actions, but this United harvest could not play with any sustained intensity or structure for several weeks.
That defeat by Brighton was bad. So bad that we’re going to take a short break to do that.
Just counting a bunch of numbers
- Manchester United have already lost five consecutive away games, scoring twice in those games and conceding 16 times.
- United registered a shot on target until the 55th minute on Saturday, when Mata’s shot was saved by Sanchez.
- They have already conceded four goals in five league games this season, as many as Norwich City at the bottom of the table.
- United have already conceded 56 goals in the league – their highest amount since 1978-79, when the season had four more games.
- This season will see the lowest total of United’s final points from 1990-91, when they finished sixth but won the old European Cup Winners’ Cup)
- Five players, who started in the humiliating 4-0 defeat by Everton in April 2019, also started against Brighton on Saturday. The club is facing another recovery this summer because they failed to finish their last one properly.
Rangnik’s press conference after the match
“In the beginning, it is important to apologize to our supporters, who came all the way from Manchester to Brighton,” said Rangnik.
The interim manager failed to heal a broken locker room (typical modus operandi of a fixed-term manager) and apply a consistent and consistent style of play (the other great hope for the German), but his candor in press conferences and interviews shone in the spotlight. of the recovery that awaits United.
This is not a great consolation – despite all the apologies that he, along with the captain in Saturday’s game Fernandes, can offer in defeats like these, there are few reassuring words that can have an effect. Best apology changed …
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