David de Gea reveals what approach he wanted from Man Utd during tense win over Brighton
David De Gea says he was urging his Manchester United team-mates forward to kill the game off against Brighton at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
Brighton had given United a run for their money in the first half with De Gea diving full length to tip over a Jakub Moder effort just before half-time. United had played in fits and bursts, but the game exploded into life after half-time.
Cristiano Ronaldo fired the hosts ahead on 51 minutes and just a minute later Brighton captain Lewis Dunk was sent off for tripping Anthony Elanga. Brighton though remained in the game and hit the bar through Moder before Danny Welbeck headed wide when well placed.
It could have proved costly for United who looked content to simply retain possession in the last 10 minutes, rather than look for the second goal. With the crowd chanting “attack, attack, attack”, that goal did come late in stoppage time.
Bruno Fernandes scoring from a quick counter-attack.
But despite the 2-0 win, De Gea has said he wanted United to go and score the second earlier.
“I was there saying ‘come on, we have to kill the game,’ because, in the Premier League, you never know. Even with 10 players, they can score,” De Gea told MUTV.
“So it was too late the goal, but at least we scored the second goal. We should have scored much earlier, we had a couple of good chances and then you suffer when you don’t score the goal. You don’t kill the game, you suffer.
“They are a good team, they know how to play, but this is football. We win the game and we are happy.
“To be honest, I think we had the control of the game in the second half. The first half wasn’t the best, they had a couple of good chances but then we reacted very well in the second half. We scored a goal, we got the red card for them. Even like this, we gave a couple of chances at the end.”
De Gea says for United attacker Welbeck missed a “massive chance” at 1-0 after arriving as a late substitute.
“Yeah, he had a massive chance to be honest. So he missed the chance and then we scored the goal from Bruno and we kill the game,” added De Gea.
“I think we started to press more high in the second half. We made them play less from the back, so we pressed high.
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De Gea hoping United draw confidence
“It was difficult for them to get out because they like to have the ball. And then Cristiano scored a great goal and, from that, they get the red card and we control the game until the last 10 minutes when they have a couple of chances. But, like I said, the performance was so-so but the three points are massive,” added De Gea.
The Spanish keeper is hopeful the win over the Seagulls can propel United into a winning run. Next up is Leeds at Elland Road on Sunday.
“Hopefully, this game may give us more confidence, more good feelings,” he added.
“Then we have a big game on Sunday against Leeds away. A very difficult game and I think we have to be focused on that game. Don’t think more on the future, just Leeds.
“Of course, we want to stay there [top four], we should be fighting for more things than the top four but this the realistic thing we have to fight for the fourth. But let’s keep fighting, keep giving everything and let’s be finishing in the top four.”
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