Manchester United laboured to a 1-0 win over Brighton on Saturday, with the Red Devils’ attack stuttering as it came up against the Seagulls’ well-organised defence.
It came down to a deflected Ashley Young strike to secure the three points for United, although unfortunately for the Englishman, the goal will go down as a Lewis Dunk own goal – cruel on Dunk and his teammates, who put in a battling performance at Old Trafford and showed enough attacking threat of their own.
Here are two good and two bad performances from United’s win.
TWO GOOD
ASHLEY YOUNG
Young has made the left-back spot his own at United – and he’s not even a left-back. On Saturday, he showed why, as he provided the attacking threat that’s expected of him but also defended well, just edging his personal battle with Brighton’s Anthony Knockaert, who gave the Englishman a fright at times but also found Young equal to the challenge.
The United veteran will campaign for United’s goal to be awarded to him – he’s convinced his shot was on target – and it’s no wonder, given that he last scored in May 2016. But goals are no longer a crucial part of his game.
Defensive discipline and work rate, along with an attacking threat from deep, is the brief for Young in his new position, and Saturday was just another example of him carrying that brief out with precision.
Ashley Young’s deflected strike gave United their only goal.
VICTOR LINDELOF
Victor Lindelof has had a difficult start to his United career, having one or two shaky moments in just about every appearance he’s made – until Saturday.
Against Brighton, Lindelof put in his best display in United colours, bringing a solid presence to a backline that’s missing first-choice centre-backs Eric Bailly and Phil Jones.
United manager Jose Mourinho has preached patience with the young Swede, rightly saying Lindelof needs time to adjust to English football, but the manager’s faith in his summer signing must be growing after recent performances.
Lindelof looks a much better player than the one whose error contributed to United dropping three points in a shock loss to Huddersfield last month.
Lindelof had the best performance of his young United career.
TWO BAD
GLENN MURRAY
It’s hard to say anyone in Brighton colours had a bad performance on Saturday, but Glenn Murray comes the closest.
The man who’s scored some crucial goals for his side already this season was little threat for Lindelof and Chris Smalling, even as Brighton’s attack posed problems for United.
At 34, it’s going to be difficult for Murray to consistently lead the line well, and Old Trafford is a tough place for most visiting strikers. The Englishman is yet another player to have discovered that.
Glenn Murray wasn’t his usual bruising self against United.
ROMELU LUKAKU
At the moment, it’s easy to criticise Romelu Lukaku – he doesn’t seem as active a part of United’s attack as he was earlier in the season. He did score last week, giving some credence to the idea that he suffered the most from Paul Pogba‘s injury-enforced absence, and Brighton were a tough nut to crack for every member of United’s attack on Saturday.
However, he did have a couple of chances, most notably a first-half header which he couldn’t keep down. He will have felt he could’ve done better with that opportunity.
The Belgian was generally kept quiet by Brighton’s admirable centre-back pairing of Dunk and Shane Duffy, who, it must be said, are experienced enough to withstand most bruising, powerful centre-forwards.
But it did seem as if Lukaku made it too easy for them – he’s bullied better defenders than Dunk and Duffy in his career.
Could Lukaku have done better against Brighton’s defenders on Saturday?
