Shea Lacey is the shining light for Man United on a dark evening at Old Trafford
Manchester United suffered a poor defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in the third round of the EFL Cup.
Poor result
The Red Devils raced into a two-goal lead after just 10 minutes but spent the rest of the game working at an alarmingly lackadaisical pace.
This allowed the visitors to get a stronghold in the game and they took apart a suspect Red Devils’ defence.
Shining light
In a terrible week for United and their supporters, there has been one shining light.
Youth sensation JJ Gabriel has sensationally asked to leave the club but, somewhat poetically, fellow youth star Shea Lacey took his chance in his very first start at senior level.
Lacey scored an absolutely wonderful goal to open his account for the Red Devils.
He picked the ball up on the right-hand side and drilled in a great finish to give his team the lead.
Lacey completed 84% of his passes in the match but did not produce any key passes for his side in attack.
The youngster also crossed the ball into dangerous areas a couple of times but could not find his intended target.
He tried to take on the Brighton defence but was only able to complete one of his five dribble attempts.
Lacey was combative on the pitch, winning two out of his three tackles and six out of 10 ground duels in the game.
The 19-year-old will be hoping for another opportunity to impress when United travel to Fulham on Sunday evening.
Shea Lacey stats vs Brighton
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 0 |
| Key passes | 0 |
| Crosses (accurate) | 2 (0) |
| Accurate passes | 16/19 (84%) |
| Passes in opposition half (acc.) | 9/10 (90%) |
| Passes in own half (acc.) | 7/9 (78%) |
| Long balls (accurate) | 1/2 (50%) |
| Total shots | 1 |
| Shots on target | 1 |
| Shots blocked | 0 |
| Touches | 39 |
| Unsuccessful touches | 3 |
| Dribbles (successful) | 5 (1) |
| Was fouled | 2 |
| Possession lost | 13 |
| Total carrying distance | 85.8 m |
| Carries | 9 |
| Progressive carries | 1 |
| Total progression | 24.1 m |
| Progressive carrying distance | 38.4 m |
| Longest progressive carry | 31.9 m |
| Def. contributions | 5 |
| Tackles (won) | 3 (2) |
| Interceptions | 1 |
| Clearances | 1 |
| Blocked shots | 0 |
| Recoveries | 3 |
| Ground duels (won) | 10 (6) |
| Dribbled past | 0 |
Featured image by Molly Darlington via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Alex has a Master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and La Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Having lived in the country since 2011, Alex is The Peoples Person’s Spanish football expert and is fluent in both Spanish and Catalan. He dreams of witnessing a United captain triumphantly hoisting the Premier League and Champions League trophy in the air once more.
