Manchester United got away with it in their previous outing against Southampton, but Brighton were not so charitable and gave the Red Devils exactly what they deserved on Sunday: a punishing 3-1 defeat and their sixth loss of the season at Old Trafford.
United conceded the opening goal for the fifth game in a row at home when Kaoru Mitoma took advantage of lax defending to latch on to a high ball and squared for Yankuba Minteh to tap home in the fifth minute.
Ruben Amorim’s side toiled thereafter, but following some half-hearted attempts on goal, they were handed a golden opportunity when Carlos Baleba pulled a wrestling move on Joshua Zirkzee, grabbing the Dutch forward by the neck. Bruno Fernandes nonchalantly slotted home the resulting penalty, but the equaliser barely lifted United’s spirits and they continued to play without conviction or clarity.
They instead contrived to conceive another atrocious goal to Joao Pedro early in the second half, but were given a reprieve by VAR for a foul by Jan Paul van Hecke on Diogo Dalot. But they continued to play poorly, giving Brighton too much room down the flanks and were eventually punished when Minteh returned the favour to Mitoma, who stabbed home at the back post.
United’s misery was compounded by an astounding gaffe, even by his standards, from Andre Onana, who attempted to catch a low cross but instead pushed it right into the path of Georginio Rutter to score the third. The defeats leaves United 13th in the Premier League table, but on this evidence they deserve to be even lower.
GOAL rates United’s players from Old Trafford…