Monday Briefing: 8 Talking Points For Reds

Your Monday Briefing is here to provide a one-stop round-up of the Manchester United news, views and events from the weekend…

1: UNITED 1 BRIGHTON 0
That’s the obvious place to start following Saturday’s Premier League win at Old Trafford, which maintained this season’s unbeaten home record and also chalked up a 13th clean sheet of the campaign in all competitions. The winner was initially attributed to Ashley Young, but his deflected strike was later credited as an own goal from Lewis Dunk (who is now the first-ever player in Premier League history to score an own goal against United and Manchester City in a single season).

2: LINDELOF WAS MAN OF THE MATCH
There are often turning points, single moments in a match, when fans look back and think ‘that kickstarted his career’. The Old Trafford faithful possibly witnessed that moment when Victor Lindelof arrived with a crunching, but fair, challenge on Anthony Knockaert. It was part of an excellent performance from the Swede, who claimed our Man of the Match award with 57 per cent of votes cast.

3: THREE RIVALS DROPPED POINTS
Tottenham Hotspur were held to a shock 1-1 draw by Gary Megson’s West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium, before Chelsea and Liverpool also drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, rendering our win over Brighton to be even more important. Elsewhere, current leaders Manchester City came from behind to beat Huddersfield Town 2-1, and Arsenal won 1-0 away at Burnley.

4: CARRICK OFFERED COACHING ROLE
There are two parts to this story: the first involves a statement that Michael released late on Friday night, which revealed the club captain has been suffering from an irregular heart rhythm and recently underwent a procedure called Cardiac Ablation. Thankfully, he expects to be back soon.

Then, when asked about Carrick’s situation at the post-match press conference on Saturday night, Jose Mourinho admitted he has approached the midfielder about a future role within his backroom team. “He knows that my coaching staff has the chair for him if he wants,” the manager said. “When he wants the chair, it is there in the office for him. I want that, the board wants that and the owners want that. So Michael is in a comfortable situation. His future will be with us.”

5: CLUB BEHIND RAINBOW LACES CAMPAIGN
The club is taking part in Stonewall’s fortnight of action and on Saturday supported the Rainbow Laces initiative. Ahead of kick-off, the players lined up in front of rainbow branding, which was also mirrored on plinths and the substitutions board. Dedicated LED pitchside messages were also shown at Old Trafford throughout the match, while our club social channels marked the occasion using the rainbow theme; an icon commonly shared within the LGBT community.

6: UNDER-18S LOST THE DERBY
Our youngsters slipped to a first league defeat since the opening day of the season at City’s Etihad Campus, and the reverse also means that the Blues have leapfrogged Kieran McKenna’s lads to capture top spot in the table. The only positive was a goal for the returning Tanith Chong.

7: 25 YEARS OF CANTONA
Believe it or not, Sunday marked the 25-year anniversary of Eric joining United from Leeds and we celebrated the occasion on ManUtd.com by sharing the dressing room stories of his former team-mates Gary Pallister, Paul Scholes, Lee Sharpe, Andy Cole, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane. If you haven’t read them already, it is definitely worth taking a look to brighten up your start to the week.

8: PEREIRA IN CONTROVERSIAL DRAW
Andreas Pereira made his 12th appearance of the season, as a 82nd-minute substitute, as loan club Valencia secured a 1-1 draw with Barcelona. The game was in the news after the away side were controversially denied a goal when Lionel Messi's shot squirmed through the gloves of goalkeeper Neto and over the line, only for the referee to wave play on. There is no goal-line technology in Spanish football.