VAR cheated Manchester United!? Watch How VAR Ruled out two Manchester United goals. – truly the England Referees are against us

Manchester United’s terrible 2023/24 Premier League season may be a thing of the past this season. We will cease talking about it and using it as a tool for comparison. It will suddenly seem irrelevant.

For the time being, the second stage of the Erik ten Hag period will shape our perception of this squad. It is the lens through which United are being viewed early in the season.

And, while the first weekend’s results were good, this was cause for alarm. It was not quite the catastrophe we had come to expect from United last season. For much of the day, they were more regimented and controlled than their opponents. But they can not break their addiction to turmoil.

United allowed a facile opener in a sluggish first half, and when the game opened up after the break, they rode their luck until a 95th-minute victory that seemed like a gift. Failing to clear a corner and then failing to defend half the penalty area in the second phase seemed strangely familiar. It occurred at a time when Brighton’s pressure had been increasing.

So a point that would have seemed to lend credibility to Ten Hag’s new side evaporated, and the same questions reappeared. This team looks improved, but are the upgrades sufficient? They have improved as a pressing squad and become more compact, but they are not creating enough opportunities and committing defensive mistakes. It puts a lot of pressure on next week’s encounter at Old Trafford against Liverpool.

Ten Hag’s team did win here in May, but it felt like an exception. Brighton had won four of their past five Premier League games, and in many respects, they are the team Manchester United is now attempting to emulate under Ineos. They are not just United’s nightmare team, but also their prototype in many aspects.

They need to become an elite version of Brighton, but that is the goal. This is a group that does so much correctly. When one highly regarded manager leaves, they replace him with another that no Premier League team had considered. When he does that, simply repeat the process.

After an exodus of players from the Amex in recent years, this summer has been more steady, with them spending more than United on new signings. All of them are young players with high market potential, and several are innovative additions. Mainz, Nordsjaelland, and Gothenburg are all vying for the lead.

It is clear that under 31-year-old head coach Fabian Hurzeler, they play in the same way as Roberto De Zerbi. The wingers continue to rush forward, there are still two attackers, and they attempt to bait the press when deep.

Almost every ‘big’ club envies our consistency and transfer market success. United is no different. For far too long, they have jumped from one style to the next, one craze to the next. If either club deserved to win the game, it was the Seagulls, and Hurzeler appears to be another top-tier manager.

The fact that Ten Hag was defeated by a coach 23 years younger than him will remain with him. He may have weathered the summer, but the pressure might rise early in the season, and he must prevent outcomes like these.

Sticking with him is Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s biggest gamble as owner. United are getting things right under Ineos, and their summer transfer activity appears to be on track. They cannot afford many more games like this.