0 shots on target, possession lost 24 times, 67% passing: United let down badly by misfiring magician in Brighton defeat

Manchester United’s season took another hammer blow as they were dumped out the FA Cup by Brighton and Hove Albion. The Red Devils went down 2-1 at home to the Seagulls, their bogey team, to make Darren Fletcher’s first game as interim manager at Old Trafford one to forget. Cunha didn’t turn up Despite producing 19 shots United only managed one goal, Benjamin Sesko heading home what turned out to be a consolation goal in the final minutes. It was another toothless attacking display as the forward line flopped once again, and Matheus Cunha was one of the worst offenders. The Brazilian continued to show his selfish streak and was wasteful in front of goal, and all three of his shots skewed off target. He also lost possession a massive 24 times in a hugely disappointing performance. Only Bruno Fernandes gave the ball away more (25 times), but the captain was much more productive in possession than Cunha. Cunha found his man with only 24 of his attempted 36 passes, and his 67% passing accuracy was the second-worst of any United player. Only Sesko fared worse in this metric, but he only attempted seven passes in the whole match. Bright flashes To his credit, Cunha did manage two key passes and created one big chance, but neither of his attempted crosses was successful. The Brazilian was also United’s most effective player in duels, winning nine of 19 attempted – more than anyone else in red. He came off second best in both contested aerial duels. Similarly he completed the most dribbles of anyone on the pitch, beating his man three times from six attempts. Matheus Cunha vs. Brighton and Hove Albion PlayerMatheus Cunha Goals0 Assists0 Big chances created1 Key passes2 Crosses (accurate)2 (0) Accurate passes24/36 (67%) Passes in opposition half (acc.)18/26 (69%) Passes in own half (acc.)6/10 (60%) Long balls (accurate)2/4 (50%) Total shots3 Shots on target0 Shots blocked0 Touches63 Unsuccessful touches4 Dribbles (successful)6 (3) Was fouled4 Possession lost24 Def. contributions2 Tackles (won)2 (1) Interceptions0 Clearances0 Blocked shots0 Recoveries5 Ground duels (won)17 (9) Aerial duels (won)2 (0) Fouls2 Dribbled past1 No player on either side was fouled as often as Cunha – four times – which shows he was causing Brighton problems, but much of the rest of his performance made life difficult for his own team. Stats taken from sofascore. Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Joe Ponting Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried. He cut his teeth working in print media for local newspapers and entered football journalism covering the grassroots game for the Non-League Paper. Here he achieved a career high, interviewing United legend Sir Bobby Charlton to get his views on the lower echelons of the football pyramid. To kill time during international breaks Joe writes album reviews and has strong views on post punk for Plus One Magazine.