Man Utd: Twitter thread on Erik ten Hag's first game reveals damning defensive errors

Manchester United have a lot more work to do than many fans anticipated.

Having enjoyed a buoyant pre-season campaign featuring a 4-0 demolition of Liverpool, the Old Trafford faithful were quietly thinking that the Erik ten Hag era could turn things around in the blink of an eye.

However, to say that the Red Devils’ opening Premier League game brought them crashing back down to reality would be the mother of all understatements as they floundered to a miserable 2-1 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion.

But more disheartening than even the result itself was the way in which United allowed it to happen because their performance seemed to have been ripped straight out of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer playbook.

Now, to an extent, that’s to be expected because Ten Hag isn’t a miracle worker who can change United’s fortunes around overnight as they continue to work through the hangover of Ralf Rangnick’s reign too.

Nevertheless, you can can certainly understand United fans wanting to see more cut and thrust from the team in their first outing under Ten Hag rather than another instillment of incoherent build-up play and little to no attacking verve.

And perhaps most damning of all was the way that the Red Devils defended in the first-half as they opened themselves up for Pascal Gross to nab two goals that allowed Brighton to run away with the three points.

From Lisandro Martinez’s wobbly Premier League bow to some woeful positioning from Harry Maguire, United’s defending was all over the shop regardless of whether or not the midfield was creating big chances.

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In fact, such was the alarming extent of United’s defensive frailties that it has become the topic