Erik ten Hag's Manchester United reign got off to the worst possible start last weekend when Brighton sprung a surprise and registered their first win at Old Trafford in over 40 years.
Except - just how truly surprising the Seagulls' victory actually was is up for debate, which in itself is a damning indictment of both how far United have fallen and how much work Ten Hag has to do to restore them to their former glories.
The Old Trafford faithful were silenced by a first-half brace from Pascal Gross and jeered their side down the tunnel at the interval stage. There was no second-half comeback, with United's consolation goal coming in the form of a scrappy Alexis Mac Allister own goal before the game ended 2-1 to the visitors.
In what is arguably more concerning than the result itself, United were outfought and Ten Hag was out-thought by his counterpart Graham Potter in the away dug-out. The Red Devils were reactive rather than proactive, taking too long to rectify issues that clearly weren't working long before they found themselves two goals down.
A recent GQ report of the contest explained how a tactical specialist relayed his findings and found that United's attempt to overload the middle of the park was failing miserably. it explained that while those kind of tactics may have worked in the Eredivisie, they will have to be drastically improved to thrive in the Premier League.
The same report discussed how Ten Hag was not responding quickly enough to the intelligent tweaks Potter was making to his system, leaving United exposed to further embarrassment. Things could have ended up far worse for the hosts, who were fortunate not to lose by more.
Lisandro Martinez could have been punished for a blatant shove in the back of Danny Welbeck inside the area, while Scott McTominay should have been shown a red card for a brutal challenge that was both late and high.
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Potter's recognition of the fact United had started to get some joy on the flanks by pushing Diogo Dalot high up the pitch was key to ensuring Brighton travelled back to the south coast with three points in tow.
After the game, Ten Hag conceded he has a "hell of a job" on his hands to turn things around in the red half of Manchester.
"It is a hell of a job [before us] – we have to work really hard, analyse and then move forward," he explained. "Today was a good start and then after that, we dropped down a level in belief and we made mistakes that the opponent punished.
"But it was a good opponent, we [tried to] work well together but when you make mistakes you get punished for that."
