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The temptation on occasions like this is to draw comparisons with the past, but there really aren’t any. The Manchester United that Denis Law graced feels as far away from the modern-day incarnation as you could possibly get.
United fans paid homage to The King, who passed away on Friday at the age of 84, and then looked on as United played like paupers. The only parallel to be drawn with Law’s era and this shambles of a team is that United look closer to being relegated from the top-flight than at any time since 1974. United have made their worst start to a season in 131 years since 1893-94 when they were known as Newton Heath.
This was a sixth defeat in nine Premier League games. Were it not for Amad Diallo’s hat-trick heroics against bottom-of-the-table Southampton here on Thursday, it would have been seven defeats. ‘You thought you were back, but you’re still s***,’ sang the jubilant away fans.
United were a mess again. As bad as Brighton were good. The Seagulls led through Yankuba Minteh’s early goal and clinched a deserved win through second half strikes from Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter after Bruno Fernandes has equalised from the spot.
We really shouldn’t be surprised by these headlines anymore. This was Brighton’s third straight win in the league at Old Trafford, equalling a feat only achieved by Manchester City. They have now won six of their last seven league games against United.
After Thursday’s comeback win over Saints, Ruben Amorim urged his players to claim back-to-back victories for the first time since the end of the last season, which included that solitary win over Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
‘There is no better feeling than winning and the confidence that fills you when you start to build a sequence of wins,’ wrote United’s head coach who recalled Harry Maguire, Joshua Zirkzee and Diogo Dalot to his starting line-up. ‘As a team we need to develop that feeling and become addicted to it.
‘Since my arrival in Manchester, all the best performances I have seen from the team so far have had the same characteristics: desire, energy and commitment. Our best displays until now have come away from home and I want us to start showing our authority here at Old Trafford.’
If Amorim was hoping his players would get the message, it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears within five minutes of the kick-off after a fitting tribute to Law.
It came from a simple ball over the top from Carlos Baleba which released Mitoma down the left. Noussair Mazraoui had lost track of his man and Maguire was playing him onside. Mitoma could have gone it alone, but he unselfishly squared the ball to Minteh to score from close-range. The goal meant United haven’t kept a clean sheet in 12 games in all competitions.
The home side cleared their heads from the early blow and went close to an equaliser when Diallo knocked Mitoma off the ball and nutmegged Yasin Ayari with a pass into the box. Zirkzee dummied the ball but Fernandes scuffed a shot from 10 yards which bobbled past Bart Verbruggen’s left-hand post.
However, United were level six minutes later when Fernandes converted from the penalty spot. Verbruggen played a pass out to Ayari but Diallo anticipated and ambushed the Swede with a well-time tackle. The ball ran for Zirkzee in front of goal and in his desperation to prevent a goal, Baleba hooked the United forward around the neck and dragged him to the floor. The only surprise was that referee Peter Bankes took so long to point to the spot. Fernandes sent Verbruggen the wrong way and we were all square.
Brighton threatened again before half-time when Diogo Dalot did just enough to put off former United striker Danny Welbeck in front of goal, and thought they had regained the lead within eight minutes of the restart.
It was a mess from the moment Ayari slipped as he delivered a free kick into the box. The ball bobbed around and until Joao Pedro brought it under control and span away from Zirkzee before firing through Oanna’s legs. However, United protested that Jan Paul van Hecke had kicked Dalot after the United defender cleared the ball, and the referee agreed once he had been advised to review it on the VAR monitor.
Brighton didn’t have to wait much longer for a goal, however. Ayari breezed past Manuel Ugarte in midfield and played a pass wide to Minteh on the right. He clipped a wonderful cross to the back post where Mitoma had stolen a yard on Mazraoui again and stuck out a leg to prod home as the Moroccan collided with the post in his attempts to keep it out.
Mitoma’s 15th Premier League goal means he has moved ahead of Shinji Okazaki as the top Japanese scorer in the competition’s history.
Amorim took off his midfield tandem of Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo, as he did against Saints in midweek, but Brighton snatched a killer third goal in the 76th minute. This one was on Onana who should have easily gathered Ayari’s cross after Van Hecke and Solly March had combined to give him an opportunity to deliver low from the right.
Somehow the Cameroon keeper allowed the ball to escape from his grasp and substitute Rutter rounded Onana and last man Matthijs de Ligt to score in an empty net for his fourth goal in the last three games for Brighton.
This time there were to be no late heroics from United or Diallo.
