What’s with all the United fans wearing black the game today? Is it a ‘firm’ thing?
Lannigan’s is great craic. McCooley’s too. Rubber Soul is full of raunchy cougars. Popworld is a bit tacky.
So have utd got a reliable keeper now and not one that will give you heart palpitations?
Ya he looks rock solid.
Looks a little like your man in the social network which got screwed over by mark zuckerburg
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I’m not in a a great place.
I’m in Liverpool.
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Cheap pints?
Liverpool is a great town.
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Can’t believe de ligt is only 26. He’s been around for a long time
He’s a fine player. Hopefully they can start to blend Martinez, Yoro, Mainoo, Sesko and a few more.
Did you get home in one piece @Copper_pipe ? What kind of a night was it?
Mainoo is getting no look whatsoever the last 6+ months
This lad calls everything football wrong
It was a day of days yesterday.
When the teams were announced, there was surpise amongst supporters seeing Sesko on the bench having played the full 90 minutes vs Brentford and Sunderland and scoring in both games. It caught out Arne Slot too it seems.
The back 3 were selected for the aerial battles. Cunha and Mbeumo were tasked with going at the Liverpool full backs. While Cunha didn’t get a goal/assist he was outstanding yesterday. He was a great outlet to relive pressure towards the end.
Lammens gives a sense of calmness to the defenders in front of him. He made a good save for Isak’s effort and he was quick to close the angle on Salah’s attempt in the 2nd half.
13 points from 8 games having played City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. Is it that bad after? 
Need to back up yesterday’s performance with a win on Saturday vs Brighton.
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That hairy chap agrees
Sunday was great but it’s not worth a dollar if they don’t win Saturday.
That’s just one step forward and two back imo.
Same as Munster v Connacht.
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Man Utd beat Liverpool. That’s great – but Saturday may reveal more about their progress
Oct. 23, 2025 5:30 am GMT+1
It was about 9.30pm on Sunday when Manchester United’s team bus arrived back at their Carrington training ground following victory over Liverpool.
Rather than head home, several players chose to stay at the facilities and begin their recuperation by hitting the ice baths and sauna, resources that have been upgraded since renovation work was completed in August.
The old main building at United’s training base did have similar amenities but the new, improved complex invites players to use them more frequently. There was time to decompress together after an intense match, which Ruben Amorim has stated should be a benefit to his team this campaign. But, as the head coach has also stressed, building on the momentum of back-to-back Premier League wins is critical.
In that context, the visit of Brighton to Old Trafford on Saturday could tell us more about United than the trip to Anfield. Amorim’s side were good value for their victory on Merseyside, but the question now is can they apply the same attention to detail and desire for a contest of less grandeur?
Arne Slot’s team were vulnerable after three successive losses. Brighton & Hove Albion head to Manchester off the back of beating Newcastle United and Chelsea and drawing with Wolves in their last three games. They also have a win over Manchester City from August.
More pertinently, Brighton have won at Old Trafford on each of their last three visits. They have also been the better team — comprehensively so — despite having three different head coaches (Graham Potter, Roberto De Zerbi and Fabian Hurzeler) in that period. Their mechanisms of play have stayed constant, and present a challenge for Amorim to solve.
Cut-back goals after balls in behind, as well as goalkeeper errors, have been a recurring feature of these games, with Brighton proving adept at capitalising on the turbulence United have experienced in recent seasons, sensing those moments when opposition players are uncertain of their tasks or positions.
United dominated initial contests after Brighton’s promotion in 2017, but the tide has turned in recent years. In the last four seasons no team has a better record against them, home and away.
The Old Trafford games have stuck out as especially sore points. In 2022, Brighton’s visit opened Erik ten Hag’s reign. United had Christian Eriksen as a false nine, but Brighton, under Potter, knew their roles.
The opening goal came from Leandro Trossard playing in Danny Welbeck, who had run in behind Harry Maguire, down the left. His low cross found Pascal Gross for a tap-in at the far post after Luke Shaw had been dragged central trying to cut off Adam Lallana.
Gross also got Brighton’s second after David de Gea palmed Solly March’s shot from right side of the box back into danger.
In September 2023, under De Zerbi, Brighton’s opening goal again came from a cut-back, this time the right flank. Welbeck passed out to Simon Adingra, then continued his run into the area behind Casemiro, timing his arrival onto Adingra’s cross, after a stepover by Lallana — a decoy once more — for a first-time finish.
Brighton scored their other two goals from the left, with passes inside and first-time shots around the edge of the box. Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey set up Gross, with Lamptey later assisting Joao Pedro.
In January, as Amorim faced Hurzeler for the first time, Brighton’s opening goal bore the hallmarks of their previous wins. Carlos Baleba, on the ball in deep midfield, pinged a pass over United’s backline as Mitoma made a run in behind Noussair Mazraoui. At the same moment, Mathijs de Ligt leapt forward in anticipation of Baleba going shorter to Welbeck, who had dropped to the centre circle. That timing meant Mitoma had only Maguire to bypass when squaring for Yankuba Minteh after sprinting clear. Leny Yoro trailed Minteh having advanced while tracking Joao Pedro, who had also moved into midfield.
It was a case of Brighton’s front four manipulating United’s back five with a pre-set routine to gain the advantage. United’s players were still adjusting to Amorim’s system.
Brighton’s other goals came from a Minteh inswinging cross from right that Andre Onana left, allowing Mitoma to stab in from a couple of yards at the far post. Onana then fumbled a low cross from the right by Yasin Ayari, with the ball falling to the feet of Georginio Rutter.
Senne Lammens continuing his composed start to his United career could at least counteract those types of chances for Brighton, while Amorim’s defenders will need to be astute to the movement of Hurzeler’s front-line.
Welbeck, who has four goals in his last three games, is an expert at dragging opponents out of position. Partly for that reason United looked at signing him at the start of the summer.
Ideally, Amorim wants his centre-backs to be aggressive in winning possession but perhaps, as against Slot, there is merit in defying the expectations of a rival manager, and instead staying compact in a low block.
Of course, the demands of a home crowd make that a more complicated gameplan to execute at Old Trafford than Anfield.
United’s midfielders, namely Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, need to be switched on to the kind of late runs into the box that Phil Foden produced for Manchester City at the Etihad last month.
The last time Brighton visited United, Amorim assessed the result by calling his team the “worst maybe in the history of Manchester United”. He also delivered a ferocious dressing room inquest that left the big-screen television used for tactics permanently damaged.
Getting a positive result this time would, therefore, have added resonance.
United might need to score more than once to get a win. Their expected goals total for this campaign of 15.39 is second only to Crystal Palace (17.38) in the Premier League, but their expected goals against of 12.81 is the fourth worst.
In the three previous visits by Brighton, United have scored via a calamitous Alexis Mac Allister own goal at a corner, a Hannibal Mejbri shot from range, and a Fernandes penalty after Baleba brought down Joshua Zirkzee.
Baleba, after a troubled start to his season following United’s interest during the transfer window, had a good game against Newcastle last time out, and his performance in front of his suitors could impact their intentions next summer.
Amorim’s strategy to go direct against Liverpool worked to nullify their press and the same approach, enabling United to start play closer to the final third, looks sensible against Brighton, too. Amorim has a decision to make over starting Benjamin Sesko, after making Matheus Cunha the false nine at Anfield.
Cunha helped earn his start by reporting to Carrington a day before scheduled last week after returning from Japan with Brazil. Having played on the Tuesday, and returning to England on Wednesday, he was allowed until Friday off, but came in on Thursday for individual recovery work. He was joined by Casemiro, and both went into Amorim’s line-up at Anfield.
It is the kind of approach Amorim wants to see from his players, and if that can translate to a third Premier League win in succession, against a team that have become a real thorn for United, the mood will be enhanced even further.
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I remember united stopped Arsenal going unbeaten 50 games and the following Saturday got battered by pompey Portsmouth.
We can’t have a repeat of that. Need three points and no excuses.
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You love to see that - good attitude on display which I feared with him.
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[puts on footix cloak]
I may have mentioned it here before, but when City were shite like United are now, they used always be capable of a big result against a perceived “rival”, most often united for example. Spirits would be high, then they’d go out and get stuffed by dirge like Barnsley, Charlton or West Ham the following week and they’d be right back where they started.
A great example of this was in 2002 when City won 3-1 under Keegan in the last Maine Road Derby, only to go and lose 1-0 to Charlton the following week. Or in 2004 in the first home game at the COMS, when they hammered united 4-1, only to lose to Leeds (granted not as shite as a West Ham or Barnsley) the following week.
[removes footix cloak]
That’s what you need not rat cunts like garnacho and Sancho on 300k a week playing call of duty 24 hours a day
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