Man Utd 1-2 Brighton: Red Devils pick up where they left off as Gross stuns Ten Hag

Erik ten Hag suffered a stark reminder of the amount of work he has to do at Manchester United as his first game in charge ended in a 2-1 loss to Brighton at Old Trafford.< /p>

The Dutchman was brought to the club in the summer to begin a rebuild following a crisis which saw them go five years without winning a trophy and there will be no quick fix.

Starting with Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, United were largely outplayed in the first half as two Pascal Gross goals in the space of nine minutes gave the Seagulls a deserved lead.

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Ten Hag's men improved after the break once Ronaldo came on, but only found the back of the net thanks to an Alexis Mac Allister own goal and failed to managed to equalize.

It was a worthy three points for Brighton, who have high expectations this season despite losing key players in the summer, and they secured a first-ever victory at Old Trafford.

It was 93 days since the nadir of Ralf Rangnick's reign saw United beat 4-0 at the Amex Stadium at the end of last season, but little has changed on the pitch since this afternoon.< /p>

Ten Hag has been quick to inculcate his own methods since his appointment and this continued as he ditched the usual routines by moving the team's pre-match meal to Old Trafford, this which required the club to hastily rearrange the plans of some guests.

But despite arriving on the ground early, United were taken aback in a hugely disappointing 45-minute opener and were nearly behind in the opening 15 seconds.

Leandro Trossard pushed Diogo Dalot at the entrance to the penalty area, stole the ball from him but could only shoot into the side netting.

Having averted early disaster, it looked like United would take control as they carved out a great chance to score in the eighth minute.

Scott McTominay came in from the bottom right and his blocked shot fell perfectly for Bruno Fernandes, but the Portuguese went well over his effort.

But from then on Brighton asserted themselves and rightly took the lead on the half-hour mark.

McTominay was stripped of possession by Moises Caicedo, who found Danny Welbeck's clever run between the two centre-halves, and the former United striker picked Gross at the far post, with the midfielder having an entry easy.< /p>

Things got worse for United nine minutes later as Brighton doubled their lead after slicing through the Red Devils in just four assists.

Caicedo, Gross and Adam Lallana were all involved in sending the ball to Solly March, whose low shot was deflected by David de Gea directly into the path of Gross, who had continued on his way and happily accepted his second tap-in of the afternoon.

United were booed at half-time but Ten Hag resisted the temptation to make changes, with Ronaldo having an intense warm-up on the sidelines when play resumed.

After Welbeck headed Trossard's cross out of bounds early in the second half, Ten Hag finally turned on the Portuguese star in the 53rd minute.

And his introduction saw United come to life as they put Brighton under sustained pressure for the first time.

Marcus Rashford skied an effort to the far post from Fernandes' shot before Christian Eriksen's weak effort was fended off by Robert Sanchez.

On the resulting corner, United were back in action with Ten Hag's first goal of the reign in the 67th minute.

This was by no means a picture book as Sanchez flapped his wings on Fernandes' delivery, the ball landed on Dalot's back and it ended up in the back of the net via a combination of Without ...