Gary Neville blames Erik ten Hag of “wasting” the first half of Manchester United’s Premier League match, and he feels that Casemiro was mostly to blame for the team’s disastrous last-minute loss to Brighton.
The Seagulls have won two games out of the first two this season thanks to a thrilling goal that Joao Pedro knocked in at the 95th minute at AMEX Stadium.
In the first half, Danny Welbeck had given the home team the lead, and Amad Diallo had tied the score. After Joshua Zirkzee inadvertently shoved Alejandro Garnacho’s attempt over the line from an offside position, United had a second goal disallowed.
Pedro nodded home entirely unmarked in the six-yard area as United horribly defended against Brighton’s winner.
Four players, Diogo Dalot, Lisandro Martinez, Kobbie Mainoo and Noussair Mazraoui, swarmed around Simon Adingra as he swung in a pinpoint cross but Neville also identified Casemiro’s lack of concentration as a major factor in the goal.
The former United captain was surprised to see Zirkzee left out of the starting XI after the Dutchman came off the bench to score the winner on his debut against Fulham last week.
While ten Hag brought on his summer signing at half-time to replace Mason Mount, Neville believes it was a mistake not including Zirkzee from the start.
‘Really depressing end to the game,’ Neville told NBC Sports. ‘To lose the game, it puts an awful lot of pressure, I think, on Erik ten Hag and on towards the game next week against Liverpool.
‘I think the first half of the game, I don’t think any of us were surprised. It’s very difficult to play football without a centre-forward. You need a focal point up front. He corrected that at half-time by bringing Zirkzee on, but you’ve already wasted 45 minutes in the match and that’s a real problem.’
Assessing Brighton’s late winner, Neville added: ‘Then in the second half, the first goal as well was poor defensively, that last goal, I’ve just watched it then coming up to the gantry. When you clear from a corner, you’ve got to still defend as you’re defending the second phase of a corner.
‘I think particularly if you watch Casemiro, it looks to me, I’ve only watched it once back on the replay, it looks like he leaves his position at that back post and runs back towards central midfield.
‘But then it leaves an acre of space in that back zone where there are three Brighton players queuing up. Lack of concentration, lack of focus and it does put some pressure on them.’
Erik Ten Hag blames three Man Utd stars for Brighton goal
Ten Hag also bemoaned his side’s reckless defending so late in the contest, believing at least three of his players guilty of misreading the situation.
‘We didn’t stop the cross,’ Ten Hag said. ‘There were three players. [Adingra is a] right-footed player, send him down the line, send him wide instead of letting him come in and let the cross.
‘We have of course, to talk about this. How we act in that situation as a team. So they are aware of more than one mistake in that occasion that has a big impact on the score.’