UNITED RIDE THEIR LUCK!
Maguire escapes red card before Mason buries battling Brighton
DANNY Welbeck was not always as clinical as he may have been during his years at Manchester United but rarely did he fail to make contact with the ball from only three yards.
So why did he do so here? With the game poised at 1-1 with 20 minutes left and brighton looking to reclaim a lead Welbeck had given them in the first half, the 30-year-old moved on to a square pass from Neal Maupay.
He seemed destined to nudge the ball into the empty goal until Manchester United captain Harry Maguire challenged him.
Maguire, half a yard back, could not possibly reach the ball but with the help of a hand on his opponent’s shoulder and with his weight in his back, he managed to nudge Welbeck away from contact. Good defending or a foul? Instinct said foul.
but referee Mike Dean said not and, after a short moment of consideration, the VAR agreed.
So United were able to continue on level terms and with a full complement of players. Had a foul been given, Maguire would surely have been sent off.
Good fortune twice over, then, and United went on to make the most of it by winning the game.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team were scratchy at best here. Poor in the first half, United did not register a shot on target and Welbeck’s header gave brighton a lead they deserved. There could have been at least one more goal for Graham Potter’s side.
United did improve and deserved the equaliser scored by Marcus Rashford just after the hour. Mason Greenwood, their best player, won the game for them with a header at the death but to argue that they deserved it would be stretching things a little.
In some ways, events here were not atypical for either of these teams.
United — though they are second — often do not look as good as their league position suggests. brighton, meanwhile, can play football that makes you wonder why they have spent all of Potter’s two seasons in charge somewhere near the bottom end of the table.
certainly brighton were good for their lead. United, after Greenwood struck a post early on, didn’t really create anything at all until Rashford’s equaliser.
Greenwood’s effort arrived in the eighth minute and had brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez beaten as it thudded against the foot of his left-hand post.
Solskjaer’s team were clunky while brighton were smoother. The visiting team had more purpose to their play and lacked only a clinical air in front of goal.
Welbeck’s goal would have felt satisfying for more than one reason. He is a United old boy, of course. but at this stage of the season the stories are not about sentiment, only necessity. As such, his fourth goal of the campaign, headed in after Dean Henderson had saved his first point-blank effort, gave his team a foothold in the game they desperately craved.
Apart from saving that first effort, Henderson was unconvincing. He tipped a lewis Dunk header over the bar in the 19th minute but that was routine. More noticeable were two fumbles from corners. He got away with both but the incidents seem to betray a little nervousness.
The central areas were becoming pivotal in the game and brighton shaded that battle at times. Twice Adam lallana unnerved United’s back four with his directness, and on the second occasion Maguire had to tackle Maupay as he looked to move on to his team-mate’s pass. From the corner that followed, Jakub Moder shot wide.
United simply had to improve and they did. They were somewhat better in the second half. Still vulnerable without the ball, but better all the same.
They equalised just after the hour and had been threatening to. brighton seemed unable to nick the ball and break as easily as they had earlier on and as such began
to look a little hemmed in as United’s passing got sharper. er.
The goal was finished well by Rashford, the forward opening ning his body to score right-footed across Sanchez after Bruno Fernandes nandes played him in down the e left. Referee Dean seemed to o have given a foul for a l late a te challenge c on Fernandes but allowed a the goal to stand.
United pressed with a little more intent. Aaron WanBissaka sped down the right and fed Greenwood who shot wide of the near post without breaking stride. Then a Fred shot from 25 yards deflected over.
United’s scrappy winner came with seven minutes left. A cross from Fernandes on the left was volleyed v into the ground by Pogba and headed in by Greenwood. By then the real talking point of the game g had come and gone. MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): Henderson 5; Wan-Bissaka 6, Lindelof 6, Maguire 5.5, Shaw 6; Pogba 6 (McTominay 84), Fred 5.5; GREENWOOD 7, Fernandes 6, Rashford 6.5 (James 72min, 6); Cavani 6 (Van de Beek 82). Subs not used: De Gea, Amad, Grant, Matic, Tuanzebe, Williams. Booked: Cavani, Greenwood. Scorers: Rashford 62, Greenwood 83. Manager: M Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 6. BRIGHTON (3-4-1-2): Sanchez 6; White 6, Dunk 6.5, Veltman 6; Gross 6, Lallana 6 (Zeqiri 88), Bissouma 6, Moder 6.5 (Jahanbakhsh 87); Trossard 6 (Mac Allister 63, 6); Maupay 6, Welbeck 6.5. Subs not used: Steele, Alzate, Caicedo, Izquierdo, Karbownik, Propper. Booked: White. Scorers: Welbeck 13. Manager: Graham Potter 6. Referee: Mike Dean 5.