Brighton finished in ninth place last season, only seven points behind sixth place Manchester United. For United fans, this Sunday’s league opening fixture is sure to be a nervy one as we hope for better, while fearing the worst.
It will be instructive at the very least. While we’ve seen the Reds flourish in pre-season it’s always different when the players step into their first competitive fixtures. Erik Ten Hag’s changes will be under the spotlight, as will players who did so much to disappoint us last season.
Manchester United
The first indications are that Ten Hag is a manager with enough personality, confidence and belief in his philosophy to change things at United. At least a little bit. We’ve already seen him dishing out tongue-lashings from pitch-side to players that have gone without them under successive managers; despite the club’s recent history of under-performing.
The key questions at this early stage – and before the first game particularly – seem to be these. How quickly can Ten Hag implement his philosophy on the team? Has he got the playing staff to take the club forward? And will he have the freedom to change things and bring players in under the current owners?
In this Sunday’s 2pm kick off at Old Trafford, hosting Graham Potter’s Brighton, we won’t answer the last question; but we’ll start to see some clues as regards the other two.
Line-up
So, who and what should we expect to see?
New signing Tyrell Malacia has been a strong feature of pre-season; it seems fair to expect him to start at left back. With Alex Telles on his way out and Luke Shaw seemingly left out in the cold following inconsistent showings last season.
Up-front there is room for concern. With Ronaldo seemingly unhappy at United and Anthony Martial having injured his hamstring during pre-season training. We can expect Martial to be out for several weeks and may well see Rashford appear as our starting striker having netted twice in pre-season friendlies.
Martial scored the joint most goals of pre-season alongside Jadon Sancho. Both managed three and we can expect the England winger to feature.
34 different players appeared for us in pre-season but it was De Gea, Fred, Dalot, Lindelof, Fernandes, Rashford and Van de Beek who topped the minutes charts; all racking up over 300. They’re all likely to start come Sunday. Only Donny Van de Beek appeared in every pre-season game.
Whether we’ll see Christian Eriksen is likely to be reliant on his fitness. The Danish playmaker joined the squad late and hasn’t participated in a full pre-season.
An XI along these lines in a 4-2-3-1 formation wouldn’t surprise us: De Gea; Malacia, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot; Fred, Van de Beek; Sancho, Bruno, Eriksen; Rashford.
Tune in to the Stretford Paddock YouTube channel on match day for build up to the game and the watchalong.
Opposition
For Brighton’s part – they’re a known quantity, but a tough test. The Seagull’s haven’t done much business in the transfer window but bought in a promising and highly-rated Paraguayan teenage star, Julio Enciso. Plus Ivorian left winger Simon Adingra, from Nordsjaelland.
Those signings won’t frighten United fans and pundits, but Brighton’s fluid football under Graham Potter might. Sunday is sure to be a tough test and will be an interesting early indication of what Erik Ten Hag plans to do with this Manchester United squad.