The Media Review: Manchester United beaten at the Amex

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

How the newspapers and websites saw our 2-1 win.

2024-08-25T11:00+01:00

Danny Welbeck heads against the crossbar during Saturday's win over his former club. Photo: Paul Hazlewood

Reports of any game involving Manchester United tend to become an analysis of the Red Devils’ brilliance when they win or a dissection of their woes when they lose, as they have recently tended to do against the Albion.

But the reporters who attended our 2-1 lunchtime victory over the men from Old Trafford chose not to view the occasion through the usual red filters and showered Fabian Hurzeler’s side with plenty of praise.

“What a start in England for Brighton’s 31-year-old manager Fabian Hurzeler whose team crushed Everton 3-0 a week earlier,” wrote Charlie Wyett in The Sun on Sunday. “And credit to him for urging his team to push forward at the end rather than settle for a point.

“Sub Julio Enciso came close in injury time and we thought that might be the final chance. But incredibly, United failed to clear a corner and Adingra picked out Pedro to score.”

Fabian Hurzeler greets Manchetser United boss Erik ten Hag before kick-off. Photo: Paul Hazlewood.

In The Sunday Mirror, Hector Nunns had the stats at his fingertips. “This was a seventh win for Brighton against Manchester United in 15 Premier League matches, including five of the last six,” he wrote. “And that losing rate of 47 per cent to the south coast outfit is the Red Devils’ worst against any team. And 38-year-old former Liverpool, Newcastle and Aston Villa man James Milner now has 12 league wins against United – equalling the record of Kyle Walker.”

Alyson Rudd wrote in The Sunday Times that “Brighton were as adept tactically as United and much more dangerous. Where Erik ten Hag’s team produced bursts of individual class, Brighton were the more cohesive unit. They were also more emotionally robust and sealed victory deep into added time when their opponents began to look exhausted. Hurzeler, though, is not about too leap around proclaiming himself the special one, even if his first home game in charge was hugely satisfying.”

Rare Amex visitor Miguel Delaney of The Independent thought that “there can be no sense of this Brighton project plateauing after a victory like this, where the superb Joao Pedro scored a 95th-minute winner to raise the roof and clinch a fine 2-1 win. The defending was shambolic as three United players somehow left the scorer completely unmarked at the back post, but Brighton had more than displayed their willingness to seize it. Put more bluntly, a manager in the job for just two games still showed Erik ten Hag what to do to win it. The difference in the subs settled this game.

“Hurzeler hasn’t exactly gone under the radar due to his young age at 31, but the relevance to that should be over whether it might see Brighton break their previous limits as a club. They can do more. Many will point to Brighton’s new level of expenditure. More relevant is the way they again bossed a much more expensive side. They have made a habit of this with United.

“The visitors didn’t have the same idea or control of the game as Brighton. There were ultimately more periods in the match when the home side were much the better team, particularly just after half-time and just before the end. They were in total command and pulling United this way and that.”

In The Sunday Telegraph, Sam Wallace found plenty to enjoy in the performance of our match-winning number nine.

“The winner from Joao Pedro came at the end of a fine performance from the Brighton centre-forward, who is maturing into an excellent Premier League striker,” he wrote. “Brighton finished the game top of the Premier League with two wins, home and away, for their new manager Fabian Hurzeler, just 31. After a summer of investment, this is now a team of real promise.

“Brighton’s attacking threat was impressive. The Brazilian Pedro played between Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh. They will certainly cause teams problems this season. It was substitute Simon Adingra who supplied the cross in a period of pressure for Brighton, from which Pedro headed the winner.”

Jonathan Wilson of The Observer wrote that “Brighton had looked the likelier to score for all but about 10 minutes of the second half.

“Brighton’s winner came after a sustained spell of pressure, Simon Adingra dinking a ball to the back post where three Brighton players were lined up waiting to apply the coup de grace.

“Comedy like United’s disallowed goal deserved a punchline, and João Pedro delivered it. Brighton look like being hugely entertaining this season; United, for very different reasons, may also be.”

Kaoru Mitoma challenges Joshua Zirkzee. Photo: Paul Hazlewood

All of the above are London-based, but The Mail on Sunday had sent their Manchester man Chris Wheeler south to describe the action. “It was Welbeck who stabbed home from Kaoru Mitoma’s pass for his 100th career goal,” he wrote. “But it was Joao Pedro’s dangerous cross from the right, coupled with Harry Maguire’s perplexing decision not to at least try to deal with it, that proved United’s undoing.

“Despite United’s supremacy, Brighton’s lead didn’t represented a comprehensive injustice. Well organised and drilled within an inch of their lives, the first impressions of new boss Fabian Hurzeler are encouraging - last weekend’s comfortable win at Everton and now this. They have a knack of unearthing coaching gems round these parts. They may have done it again here with Hurzeler.

“United's leveller arrived on the hour as Diallo, collecting a pass from Noussair Mazraoui, powered down the right to cut inside Jack Hinshelwood before unleashing past Steele.

“But United only have themselves to blame. Their failure to clear a corner eventually saw the excellent Billy Gilmour recycle the ball on the edge of the area with a clever pass into Simon Adingra. The winger’s back post cross was sumptuous. In contrast, United’s marking was abysmal. Pedro gobbled up the opportunity with a powerful back post header as the Amex exploded.”