Manchester United suffered a 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in their second Premier League game of the 2024/25 season.
It was yet another case of Erik ten Hag’s side conceding a goal in second-half stoppage time that denied them a more positive result, and it is something that has become a worrying trend for the Red Devils.
United fell behind in the first half after former striker Danny Welbeck opened the scoring. However, they deservedly equalised through Amad Diallo’s deflected shot and thought they had taken the lead through Alejandro Garnacho, but the goal was ruled out as the ball hit Joshua Zirkzee on the goal line, who was offside.
In the 95th minute, United failed to clear a corner and Brighton played the ball to Simon Adingra in the penalty area, to the left of Andre Onana’s goal. The winger crossed to the far post, where João Pedro had been left completely unmarked, and headed the ball into the bottom corner. There were two other Brighton players nearby, without any red shirts near them.
João Pedro ran completely free to the far post. image.twitter.com/pIpdXXIOHQ
— utdreport (@utdreport) August 24, 2024
It was a terrible goal for United and underlined their terrible vulnerability to last-minute setbacks.
According to Opta data, United have lost six Premier League games under Ten Hag due to goals scored in the 90th minute or later, which is more than any other team in that time span. Incredibly, they had only lost two such games in their first 30 Premier League seasons combined.
6 – Since the 2022–23 season, Manchester United have lost more Premier League games thanks to goals scored in the 90th minute (+ stoppage time) than any other side (6); they had only lost two such games in their first 30 campaigns in the competition combined. Sleepy. #Bhamun image.twitter.com/F6JXEWUHti
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 24, 2024
It was Ten Hag’s fifth defeat in seven games against Brighton during his time as United manager, while new Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler celebrated making it two wins from two to start the campaign.
