Manchester United Manager's Premier League Debut Given Damning Review

Manchester United's season got off on the wrong foot this past Sunday, August 7 when they suffered a disappointing defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion at their home stadium of Old Trafford.

High-profile football agent Rob Segal was quick to point out how new manager Erik ten Hag looked lost in his managerial debut in the English Premier League.

"Erik ten Hag's body language on Sunday looked like a rabbit caught in headlights," Segal wrote for CaughtOffside.

"What Saturday has shown is that Manchester United are not a quick fix. You just cannot fix the biggest football club in the world in the space of two months. Everybody, when talking about Manchester United, needs to reel it in a little bit."

Manchester United started a formidable starting eleven against Brighton and Hove Albion by deciding to bench Cristiano Ronaldo in favor of having an offensive lineup that had Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes and new signing Christian Eriksen leading the scoring opportunities.

To their credit, the Red Devils were in the driver's seat for most of the match as they held possession for 67% of the entire match while limiting the Seagulls' passing game.

However, the visitors were able to take advantage on a defensive miscue by Manchester United at the 30th minute as former Red Devils forward Danny Welbeck fired a wonderful through pass to midfielder Pascal Gross for the opening goal.

Gross only needed nine minutes to double Brighton and Hove Albion's lead after slotting home a shot that was deflected by keeper David de Gea.

The effort was there for Manchester United for much of the match and they were able to score a goal of their own when a corner try from Diogo Dalot was incorrectly cleared by the Seagulls' Alexis Mac Allister in the 68th minute.

But it was too little too late for the Reds at that point as they could not mount a comeback.

Segal noted that ten Hag is partially at fault for consistently being linked to his former club, Ajax, for transfer candidates is "just too much and shows a real lack of planning."

Recently, Manchester United was also linked to Austrian forward Marko Arnautovic and Segal was quick to point out how the club gunning for a problematic 33-year-old veteran instead of a big-name youngster like Erling Haaland, now with rival Manchester City, "stinks of desperation."

Manchester United and ten Hag will have a chance to rectify their mistakes when they face Brentford on Sunday, August 14 before having a massive mountain to climb against Liverpool on August 23.