Man Utd’s Maguire: Bad start to the season.

Man Utd captain Maguire admits failings in defeat to Brighton.

The Seagulls’ Pascal Gross did the damage as Graham Potter's boys ripped Ten Hag’s Red Devils apart in the first half of their Premier League opener at Old Trafford.

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire admitted that their 2-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion “is a bad start” to the 2022-23 Premier League campaign.

Erik ten Hag's reign at the Manchester United helm got off to a disastrous start as Brighton & Hove Albion pulled off a historic win against the Red Devils.

The Seagulls broke the deadlock when Pascal Groß found the net in the 30th minute, and the German midfielder doubled their lead nine minutes later with a close-range tap in.

An own goal in the 68th minute from Alexis MacAllister gave United hope, but the hosts failed to put in a performance that was worthy of a win as Graham Potter’s boys registered their first ever victory at Old Trafford.

Bad start for us - Man Utd captain Maguire

United captain Harry Maguire told Sky Sports: "We went into the game positive, we had a good pre-season and it was the worst possible start to be 2-0 down at half-time at Old Trafford, not good enough. We got a goal back but we huffed and puffed a bit and it’s a bad start for us.

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“We started pretty the game well and on the front foot and as a team we had control of the game. Then we conceded the first goal and that knocked us badly. We stopped playing from then.

"We need to look at not letting that first goal set us back as much as it did. But we have to be better on the ball, we gave them encouragement to come forward and attack us. It was a nightmare start to be 2-0 down at half-time.

“We spoke about getting the next goal [at half-time]. I think in the second half you saw good parts of our game but overall we didn’t do enough. We had a lot of pressure and a lot of balls but we need to be a bit more creative and we need to improve on that.

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“It’s something we need to address or it’ll keep happening. The first goal felt like a big blow to all 11 of our players.

“It’s great to have Lisandro Martinez at the club. We have competition for places at centre-back. We’ve not played much together and in that first period we weren’t on the same wavelength. Centre-back partnerships are built over time and we will get a lot better and keep clean sheets.

“Everyone knew the task. We had a bad season last season. We’ve got a new manager trying to put his philosophy on the team but when we don’t get it right we look far too open.”

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