Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes his Manchester United side should have killed off Brighton at the start of the second half after the Red Devils won 2-1 at Old Trafford.
Manchester United dominated the ball from the first minute and controlled the tempo of the game. Brighton dropped deep and defended stoutly to deny the home attackers any space to work with. The Old Trafford-outfit were struggling to break open the Brighton defence.
But the first goal came in the first quarter of the game when Paul Pogba was fouled inside the penalty box. The Frenchman converted from the spot and earned the lead for Solskjaer’s side.
Brighton built up some steam after the goal and created a couple of half chances from set-pieces. But the headers were straight at David de Gea, who never seemed stretched in the first half.
Manchester United scored a second just when Brighton were putting the home side’s defence under some stress. Marcus Rashford’s quick feet opened up some space inside the box and he found an unerring finish in the top left-hand corner from a tight angle.
After the break, the home side came out with purpose again. Jesse Lingard missed a golden opportunity to treble Manchester United’s lead. Rashford produced a whipped in cross out of nothing in the left-flank but Lingard couldn’t direct the ball goalwards with his effort.
Anthony Martial had a shot from outside the box in the 57th minute when his shot venomous effort just went over the bar.
At the hour mark, Lewis Dunk came close to halving the deficit from a set-piece. The ball fell kindly for him but his effort only found the side netting. However, Brighton's goal came when Pascal Gross scored in the 72nd minute.
The goal gave Brighton hope and they made probing runs into the Manchester United half. But the home defence stood up and stopped Brighton from creating many clear cut chances.
Brighton dominated the ball towards the end of the game. But despite a nervy second-half performance, Manchester United managed to get the win over the line.
Solskjaer feels his Manchester United side played some wonderful football to take the two-goal lead in the first half.
But he believes they paid the price for not putting the game to bed at the start of the second half and indicated that he was not impressed by the defending for Brighton’s goal.
He said on MUTV: “We played some great stuff. We should have put the game behind us at the start of the second half.
“But any game you get problems and Brighton were so resilient and stubborn and hard to break down.
“And of course when they put the ball in the box you have to defend, but fantastic football at times for us.”
Solskjaer has won his first seven games in charge of Manchester United, but he is looking forward to facing Arsenal in the FA Cup next Friday.
“Something to be proud of but something for the boys to be proud of another win.
“And now look forward to Arsenal – a tough opponent but a great challenge.
