LONDON (AP) — Two games into the season, and the scrutiny is already back on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
Joao Pedro was left unmarked to head home in the fifth minute of injury time to give Brighton a 2-1 home win over United on Saturday in a game that showed that the inconsistencies that plagued Ten Hag’s team still haven’t been eradicated.
After United failed to clear a corner, Pedro was on hand to head home a cross from Simon Adingra to secure a second straight victory for Brighton at the start of its first season under 31-year-old coach Fabian Hurzeler.
Erling Haaland made sure Manchester City joined Brighton on six points by scoring his seventh Premier League hat trick in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, while Sean Dyche could also be feeling the early pressure after his Everton side slumped to another heavy defeat, losing 4-0 at Tottenham.
Also Saturday, West Ham beat Crystal Palace 2-0 away, Fulham earned a 2-1 home win over Leicester and Nottingham Forest won 1-0 at Southampton. Aston Villa hosted Arsenal in the late game.
The defeat at Brighton will be extra tough for United to take as the visitors had a potential winner ruled out in the 70th minute for an almost comical offside.
Alejandro Garnacho’s shot from a tight angle was heading into an empty net when it deflected off the knee of the sliding Joshua Zirkzee just before it crossed the line – causing the goal to be ruled out as the Dutch striker was in an offside position.
“We thought we scored the winning goal, and it’s so bad luck that the ball is on the line,” said Ten Hag, the Dutch manager who was under heavy pressure last season but was retained by United after leading the team to the FA Cup title in the last game of the campaign.
The discussion about whether he is the right man to lead United will probably be rekindled after a loss that was the result of both missed chances and poor defending.
“You can’t drop points so unnecessarily,” Ten Hag said. “If you protect the goal like we do, you drop points. … We have to do better in certain occasions.”
Zirkzee had come on as a substitute to score an 87th-minute winner against Fulham in United’s season opener but the summer signing was once again on the bench at Brighton, with Ten Hag playing Bruno Fernandes as a false nine instead.
It was a former United forward who opened the scoring, as Danny Welbeck was on hand to slot in a cross from Kaoru Mitoma in the 32nd.
Welbeck nearly doubled Brighton’s lead when his header from a corner hit the crossbar in the 58th, and United equalized from a quick counterattack just two minutes later.
Amad Diallo cut in from the right and saw his shot deflected into the net by the sliding Jan Paul van Hecke.
Quick-fire goals from City
For a brief moment, it looked like promoted Ipswich might pull off a major upset after new signing Sammie Szmodics put the visitors ahead early against Man City.
But three goals in less than four minutes from the hosts quickly restored order at the Etihad Stadium.
Haaland scored two of those goals, first equalizing with a penalty in the 12th minute and making it 3-1 in the 16th after running onto a perfect ball over the top from Kevin De Bruyne and going around goalkeeper Arijanet Muric. De Bruyne had scored the second into an empty net after Man City winger Savinho robbed Muric of the ball, and Haaland completed his hat trick from outside the area in the 88th.
Haaland now has four goals in two games after netting the opener in a 2-0 win over Chelsea last weekend.
Everton in trouble
Everton might be heading for another relegation fight unless Dyche can shore up his defense quickly.
Everton was under pressure throughout at Tottenham in a game where the scoreline easily could have been even bigger. Everton was beaten 3-0 at home by Brighton in its opening game, and the team’s last season at Goodison Park could be a difficult one.
Jordan Pickford had already made a couple of good saves by the time Yves Bissouma opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a strike from the edge of the area that went in off the underside of the crossbar. Bissouma was suspended by the club for its opening 1-1 draw at Leicester last weekend after uploading a video to social media of himself inhaling laughing gas. But he was back in the starting lineup, and thanked manager Ange Postecoglou by running up to the Australian and giving him a hug after his goal.
Son Heung-min took advantage of a mistake by Pickford to add the second in the 25th, then made it 4-0 in the second half, six minutes after Cristian Romero had headed home a corner.
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