Man United reach new low with shambolic Brighton defeat in nightmare week
Over the last 13 years, Manchester United have compiled a litany of ignominious lows but this was a new one, even for them.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, they had taken a 2-0 lead 145 times at Old Trafford, won 143 and lost none. So, 2-0 to the good after 10 minutes, this was a safe victory. Right? Wrong…
It went very, very wrong for United, their dreadful week taking a turn for the worse. They never surrendered such a lead at Old Trafford under David Moyes or Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho or Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag or Ruben Amorim. They did under Michael Carrick.
After the Manchester derby defeat, after JJ Gabriel’s shock revelation that he wants to leave came a capitulation to bring elimination from the Carabao Cup. Lose at Fulham on Sunday and United’s will be out of the Premier League title race before the end of September. As it is, United have now lost their last four domestic cup ties.
Amid the inquest into their latest humiliation, Brighton & Hove Albion merit praise: for a remarkable comeback and an extraordinary record at Old Trafford. They have triumphed on United turf in five successive seasons. They have knocked them out of two cup competitions in 2026 alone.
A night that began terribly for Fabian Hurzeler ended superbly and, as both managers used their squads, Brighton’s capacity to find unheralded gems was a factor. They have also pocketed £65m from United for Carlos Baleba who, still injured, watched on. He has joined a club heading towards crisis.
Certainly United illustrated why they could do with Baleba. Given an ideal start, they were overrun and outmanoeuvred in midfield, losing all control. The partnership of the summer signings Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans – the latter captaining United on just his sixth appearance – floundered at Hull last month, were reunited and did not better.
Yet United were still worse in the heart of defence, in the absence of the rested Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire. Meanwhile, Carrick’s decision to give Senne Lammens a night off backfired when the debutant goalkeeper Karl Darlow was at fault for Brighton’s first goal. He wasn’t alone in that, however.
Brighton’s trio of goals were proof of their resourcefulness and attacking spirit. They were also awful defensively.
United switched off on the stroke of half time as Jaouen Hadjam, making his first start for Brighton, caught Ayden Heaven dozing with a diagonal ball. Darlow was too slow to come off his line and Charalampos Kostoulas drove in a first-time shot.
Diogo Dalot made the initial error for Albion’s equaliser, looking for Benjamin Sesko but seeing Luka Vuskovic intercept his pass and head the ball forward from the centre circle. United had a void where they needed a centre-back partnership, meaning Pascal Gross was unmarked. The German, a familiar scourge of United, scored his seventh goal against them; there are plenty of United players who have got fewer goals at Old Trafford than Gross.
Meanwhile, the impressive Kostoulas carried on bullying the United defence. After he broke clear and saw a cross deflected off Noussair Mazraoui, Maxim De Cuyper lifted a shot into the roof of the net. The substitute had only been on the pitch for three minutes. Perhaps he symbolised how Hurzeler’s changes first failed and then succeeded spectacularly.
The German made six alterations, gave three full debuts and switched to a back three. They may all have been factors as United cruised into what should have been a comfortable lead inside 10 minutes.
Initially, United got a welcome antidote to Gabriel’s news: a goal from a teenage winger and from an academy product. The 15-year-old had been pencilled in to play. Only Carrick may know if it would have been instead of Shea Lacey but the 19-year-old became the first United youth product to score on his maiden start for the club since Marcus Rashford a decade ago.
Lacey held off Hadjam and powered in a left-footed shot from 16 yards. Then Rashford – perhaps proof to Gabriel that forwards can change their mind and choose to stay at Old Trafford – had a shot blocked and Mason Mount converted the rebound.
It was his belated first start of the season, with Bruno Fernandes on the bench. Carrick had made eight changes but felt too slow to react when Brighton got into the ascendancy. Even when he was lining up a triple substitution, to bring on Bryan Mbeumo, Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee, Brighton levelled in the meantime. By the time Fernandes got on, they were 3-2 down.
And Brighton were rampant, United a complete shambles at the back. In the end, 3-2 flattered them. It also damned them. There were boos at the end. No wonder.
