Nuno and Parkinson put bums on seats
JOSE MOURINHO has his frustrations with United’s players at the moment.
The Old Trafford boss left Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the bench until the 71st minute after telling the playmaker he needs to up his game.
And it is even claimed that Mourinho, despite being delighted to have Paul Pogba fit again, was unhappy that his record signing spent so much of his rehabilitation in America.
But one player the manager is clearly happy with is Ashley Young, the winger converted into a left-back.
It was Young’s strike – with the aid of a deflection off Lewis Dunk – which kept United in the title race.
It looked like being two vital points dropped against battling Brighton until Young’s 66th-minute effort.
He succeeded where United’s big guns failed as the hosts cut Manchester City’s lead at the top to five points.
Mourinho said: “We didn’t play well. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the pundits say we played with too many attackers.
“If they say that, they are right. Sometimes you do but it meant Pogba and Nemanja Matic were a bit isolated and I think our creation was poor.
“Marcus Rashford, for instance, did not have a happy day at all. I expected us to have more chances.
“It was a battle because Brighton were very good from the first minute to the last and defensively very well organised.
“After the goal, we couldn’t get a second to kill off the game but I then saw a humble Manchester United team, fighting for the clean sheet, so I was happy with that attitude.”
Brighton boss Chris Hughton was unhappy with the award of the corner from which United scored what he described as a ‘fortuitous goal’.
Hughton said: “I don’t think it was a corner and you expect the officials to get those decisions right. Then it was hard on Lewis Dunk to get the deflection on the shot. So I’m disappointed and frustrated but Jose had a word with me at the final whistle and conveyed how well we had played.
“Credit to him for that and it’s always nice to hear that from the opposition manager.”
Brighton’s first top-flight match against United for 34 years started well enough.
Newly promoted Albion coped comfortably, despite United predictably dominating possession.
And the Seagulls produced the first shot on target from Pascal Gross but United keeper David de Gea was able to make a routine save.
After being kept quiet in the opening half-hour there was hope for United when skipper Antonio Valencia burst down the right to create danger.
But his cross was glanced wide by the head of Romelu Lukaku.
The diving Glenn Murray then just failed to get his head to a free-kick when contact would almost certainly have brought Brighton a goal.
Albion, though, had goalkeeper Mathew Ryan to thank for going in at half-time with the match goalless.
A minute from the break, the Aussie made a magnificent double save after Rashford – who started the match in the No.10 role before swopping positions with Juan Mata – crossed superbly from the right. Ryan first beat out Lukaku’s close-range header, then blocked Pogba’s follow-up effort on the line.
In the second half, the home side needed something to get them going and a crunching tackle by Victor Lindelof on Anthony Knockaert at least lifted the Old Trafford crowd.
And United’s fans were delighted to see the introduction of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a 62nd-minute substitute.
The feelgood factor – or at least feel better – continued as United took the lead in the 66th minute.
Lukaku’s persistence forced a right-wing corner which Brighton thought they had cleared.
But the ball reached Young, who made space for himself before hitting a left-foot strike which took a deflection off the unfortunate Dunk and found its way high into the corner of the net.
It was a goal – and a slice of luck – that Young deserved for another energetic performance. CHAMPIONSHIP pacesetters Wolves extended their lead at the top with a rampant triumph over Bolton at Molineux in a match which saw both managers sent to the stands.
First-half goals from Willy Boly and Leo Bonatini put the hosts in the box seat and Ivan Cavaleiro’s penalty just after the hour stretched their advantage.
Will Buckley pulled a goal back in the 74th minute.
But Cavaleiro restored the home side’s three-goal cushion eight minutes later and Diogo Jota made it five for Wolves three minutes from time.
The result gave the hosts a fifth straight win and their eighth in the last nine matches.
The game exploded on the touchline in the 44th minute when the Wolves bench reacted furiously to a challenge by Wanderers central defender David Wheater on Jota.
That sparked a reaction from the Bolton bench as the two management groups clashed.
Once the dust had settled, referee Keith Stroud gave Trotters boss Phil Parkinson – who had also been dismissed earlier in the season against Sheffield Wednesday – and home manager Nuno Espirito Santo their marching orders.
The pair played down their bust-up after the game.
Wolves boss Nuno was surprised to be dismissed.
He said: “It is something that happens every week in football. There is a tackle, I think it is tough, and I reacted to it. There is an argument. Nothing more than that. The referee told us to go.
“Both of us were doing our jobs the best way we can for our teams. The ref spoke with us, we were totally calm.
“I spoke with Phil, we had a good conversation and we sorted it out. We are grown-up men and we solved the issue.”
Parkinson said: “We had an argument but that happens every single week.
“I said to the fourth official that if managers are going to get sent off for having an argument then there will be no managers left in the dugout.”