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Manchester United lost to Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2 today in a match that was more lopsided than that sounds. The Seagulls scored three times in the first half Sunday, which was quite an anomaly given how United didn’t concede three goals in an entire Premier League game last season.
So let’s take a spin through the latest Manchester United news, notes and other items making the rounds on the internet right now in the wake of this disaster.
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22-year-old Andreas Pereira has excited Manchester United fans due to all the promise he’s displayed while filling in for the injured Nemanja Matic. He showcased his all of his potential during his full Premier League debut in the season opening victory over Leicester City.
Pereira retained his starting place with the Red Devils midfield today when they kicked off on the south coast against Brighton & Hove Albion. He line up in the holding, central midfield role with Paul Pogba on the left and summer transfer window addition Fred on the right.
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Manchester United Jose Mourinho glowing with positivity and happiness- are you ready for this? Are you sure? That’s the power of Fred, the Brazilian midfielder who was United’s first addition this summer transfer window.
Mourinho has projected more gloom and doom than usual this summer, especially so during the team’s preseason exhibition tour, and United’s transfer window ended on a sour note, with no players signed after July 3. However, Fred is certainly a United summer preseason topic to get excited about, both on-the-pitch, and from a transfer window perspective.
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Striker Romelu Lukaku returned to the Manchester United starting lineup today, as he’ll be in the first team that faces the Seagulls at Brighton & Hove Albion. Ashley Young, another player (like Lukaku) who had a very long World Cup tournament is back in the starting XI too. It’s interesting to see both him and Luke Shaw in the same starting squad.
Overall, three changes were made from the team that beat Leicester City 2-1 in the Premier League season opener, but the most intriguing is the inclusion of Anthony Martial.
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Eden Hazard put in a superlative, some would say Golden Ball level performance for Belgium at the World Cup, and after the tournament was over he made public comments that hinted at an exit from Chelsea. Hazard’s suggesting the time was right for him to move on and find a new challenge, plus Cristiano Ronaldo’s leaving Real Madrid for Juventus made for a very strong and believable transfer narrative this summer.
Hazard has been linked to Madrid for many years, but this time the concept seemed much more likely than ever before.
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Liverpool FC, fresh off a thrashing of West Ham United in the season opener, head to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace in week two. Both sides achieved a clean sheet in week one and made some news in the transfer market (sort of) this past week. For the Eagles, the biggest win of all was tying down Wilfried Zaha on a five year contract extension.
The long term deal will help ward off bigger London clubs Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, who were keen on acquiring him.
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Liverpool FC head south to London to take on Crystal Palace in their second fixture of the Premier League season. They’ll do so as very substantial favorites, given how the Reds have been widely heralded as the most likely team to dethrone Manchester City this season, if any side indeed will.
It won’t be easy though, as the Eagles are undefeated in their last 13 League clashes in which they went with a central defender pairing of James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho.
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Manchester City host Huddersfield Town in their first home match of the Premier League season. City looked very impressive in their season opening road win at Arsenal, and given how they’ll be at home this week, taking on a side that’s among the favorites to get relegated, you got to look at this match-up extremely favorably.
Although Huddersfield did upset Manchester United last campaign, so did rule them out entirely. Let’s take a look at the injury and fitness report for this one, starting with the Terriers.
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In the final days of the summer transfer window, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho warned us that his team would be in for a tough campaign if not additional signings were made. That’s exactly what happened as United ended up signing no one else after July 3.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Mourinho gave a very brief analysis of the clubs that finished in the top six last season, and explained how some of them have strengthened over the summer. He also, once again, called out the media for their portrayal of his team finished in 2017-18.
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Manchester City’s new eight-part documentary film, “Manchester City: All or Nothing,” was released yesterday, and part two includes some dialogue that greatly offended Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
The film’s narrator Ben Kingsley describes City’s 2-1 win at United on December 10, 2017 (which essentially ended the league title race right there and then) as “Guardiola versus Mourinho once more; possession vs. defense; attacking football vs. park the bus.”
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Last season, AS Roma and Liverpool FC got together and brought us what might have been the most entertaining UEFA Champions League semifinal of all time. This summer, Liverpool broke the world transfer fee record for a goalkeeper when they purchased Alisson from Roma.
Last summer, Anfield bought winger Mohamed Salah from the Roman club, and the Egyptian international went on to break the Premier League scoring record and win player of the year. Perhaps this is all part of some vast conspiracy? At least in the mind of Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who came out and accused the two clubs of colluding with one another.
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Manchester United travel to Brighton & Hove Albion, to take on the Seagulls in Premier League action on Sunday. So let’s take a spin through the latest Manchester United news, notes and transfer rumors items making the rounds on the internet right now.
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