Paul Pogba bagged himself a goal against Brighton but his overall performance was disappointing
Concerns over the quality of this Manchester United side and the consistency with which they can put in positive performances were justified yesterday afternoon as they lost 3-2 to Brighton and Hove Albion.
There was a lack of urgency, cohesion, discipline and organisation all over the pitch as United looked bereft of ideas in attack and shaky in defence. Paul Pogba admitted as much during the game, saying:
We lost and the attitude that we had I thought we deserved to win. From the start we knew it was a hard game to play playing against a smaller club than Manchester United but the attitude that we had is not like we wanted to beat them.
“They had more hunger than us and I think they showed that, but our attitude wasn’t right. We kept trying and pushing and it will be a big lesson for us.”
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes doubled down on criticism of the team, citing Pogba as one of the main contributing factors to United’s dismal display. Speaking after the game, Scholes ripped into Pogba, saying:
“There’s a lack of leaders in the team. We thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn’t there today. He had another really poor game. He’s so inconsistent.”
He continued: “Paul Pogba’s playing the ball out of play, he’s over-hitting passes, he’s hitting passes short, he’s getting caught in possession.”
Critiquing United as a team more broadly, he said that they overcomplicated the game.
“You have to get the ball to the players who can beat a man, who can win games for you. [Romelu] Lukaku can do it. [Anthony] Martial can do it. Martial, in the first half, got one ball on the left hand side in the first half and he absolutely flew past the right back. I can’t remember another time when they got the ball to him.”
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/1031305629099589632
Brighton deserve credit for a solid performance against a big side and for making the most of their chances, but there are serious issues within the United squad at the moment.
You get the sense that something will have to change sooner rather than later if they want to stay within touching distance of Manchester City. Even then, it may not be enough.
