‘Worst possible start’ – Harry Maguire says Manchester United must improve after Erik ten Hag era begins with defeat

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire says his team are still making the same mistakes from last season after losing to Brighton in Erik ten Hag’s first game in charge.

The Red Devils kicked-off their Premier League campaign with a 2-1 defeat to the Seagulls at Old Trafford, with United looking extremely lacklustre throughout much of the 90 minutes.

Pascal Gross netted a brace in the first half and while an own goal from Alexis Mac Allister after the break gave the home side hope, it was not enough and as a result the Ten Hag era begins with defeat and all the optimism from pre-season has disappeared.

‘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,’ Maguire told Sky Sports post-match.

‘We got a goal back, but we huffed and puffed a bit and it’s a bad start for us. We started pretty well and on the front foot and as a team we had control. Then we conceded the first goal and that knocked us badly.

‘We need to look at not letting that first goal set us back as much as it did. 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 to our game but overall, we didn’t do enough. We had a lot of pressure and a lot of ball, but we need to be a bit more creative, and we need to improve on that.

‘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.’

As expected, centre-back Maguire started alongside new signing Lisandro Martinez but the £46million man didn’t have the greatest of debuts with United’s backline struggling to deal with Brighton’s well-organised attack.

Attack-wise,