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Gary Neville wasn't surprised to see Manchester United suffer a 3-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford on Saturday (September 16). Erik ten Hag's side were outclassed by a rampant Brighton side who now boast four straight league wins over the Red Devils.
Goals from former United striker Danny Welbeck (20'), Pascal Gross (53') and Joao Pedro (71') did the damage for the visitors. Hannibal Mejbri grabbed a consolation for the hosts in the 73rd minute.
The mood around Old Trafford is extremely low, but the defeat to Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton didn't surprise Neville. The Manchester United icon moved to praise the high-flying Seagulls but admitted that it's concerning that the result wasn't a shock, tweeting:
"I’ve just got back from Old Trafford, and you always have to be optimistic pre-match, but the most concerning thing is what we ended up watching wasn’t a surprise. This wasn’t a lack of effort or a group of players not interested."
Neville added:
"This was a team well-beaten by opponents that were well drilled and knew what they were doing. Simple as that…"
Brighton boss De Zerbi was forced to make six changes to his team amid injury issues. The in-form Evan Ferguson, who bagged a hat-trick in the 3-1 win against Newcastle United, missed out, as did left-back Pervis Estupinan and Solly March.
However, De Zerbi's side rose to the occasion and were the better side at Old Trafford to pile more pressure on Ten Hag. They boasted 57% possession, and eight of their 10 shots were on target, while Manchester United only placed four of 14 attempts on target.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag insists his club are not in a crisis
The Red Devils have stumbled once again, with Brighton handing them third defeat of the season in five games. It's a worrying situation for Ten Hag's side who are yet to conjure up a performance worthy of European contenders, let alone top-four candidates.
Ten Hag hasn't been without his issues, with Jadon Sancho and Antony both out of the first team picture for off-field reasons. Despite the glaring problems his club are encountering, the Dutch coach doesn't think United are in a crisis (via transfer expert Fabrizio Romano):
"It’s not ‘crisis’ — but we’ve got to be disappointed."
Ten Hag then touched on the spending of clubs in the Premier League by claiming that prices are inflated when it comes to Manchester United:
“All the teams have spent a lot of money. Brighton have spent money. When Man Utd come, it inflates the price. That is also true”.
The Red Devils made a similarly poor start last season, but Ten Hag oversaw an impressive turnaround.
Whether he can conjure up another transformation this campaign remains to be seen. They next face a daunting visit to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League group stage on Wednesday (September 20).
