Seagulls follow trawler
CRISIS GROWS AS MISERABLE WEEK OFF PITCH GETS WORSE ON IT
MANCHESTER UNITED’S early season stumble is fast turning into a full-blown crisis that left fans howling in fury as they crashed to a third Premier league defeat. Brighton took all three points with goals by old boy Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross and Joao Pedro exposing the glaring deficiencies in United’s defence and midfield on another bad day for Erik ten Hag. A smart goal from young substitute Hannibal Mejbri (left) was little consolation for a United crowd rightly wondering what’s happening to their club. And the storm clouds gathering over Old Trafford show no immediate sign of dispersing with United’s misfiring stars heading to star-packed Bayern Munich this week for a daunting start to their Champions League campaign. On top of the chaos caused by Antony and Jadon Sancho, this was another home horror show from United. But unlike the poor displays against Wolves and Forest when they scraped victory, this time they were soundly beaten. Roberto de Zerbi’s slick Seagulls more than had the measure of Ten Hag’s side in every department. And it’s left the Old Trafford boss staring at a scenario he hadn’t envisaged after spending more than £160million in the summer. United had started brightly and looked threatening, with Jason Steele saving from Marcus Rashford and home debutant Rasmus Hojlund narrowly failing to connect with a Rashford cross. But it was Brighton who struck first with a clever goal engineered and clinically executed by Welbeck, meeting a cross cleverly stepped over by Adam Lallana.
United created two decent chances to equalise. First, Diogo Dalot tricked his way past Kaoru Mitoma and pulled the ball back for Rashford but the striker's shot was blocked.
Rashford then unleashed a shot which deflected of Joel Veltman and on to the angle of bar and post.. Ten Hag thought his stars had equalised after 40 minutes with Hojlund poking the ball home, but Rashford had carried the ball over the line before crossing.
In the second half it all imploded for Ten Hag as nimble footwork by
Gross saw the midfielder undo Lisandro Martinez before firing home for 2-0. Ten Hag endured boos for replacing Hojlund with Anthony Martial and soon after some fans headed for the exits as sub Pedro made it 3-0. Hannibal’s goal, rammed home from 25 yards, gave United brief hope but it could have been a whole lot worse if Andre Onana hadn’t made vital saves to deny Mitoma and Ansi Fati. Brighton drove their bus through United’s midfield – and a debut for on-loan Sofyan Amrabat, watching from the directors’ box, can’t come quickly enough.