Shane and his Seagulls rip tame United to pieces
SHAMBOLIC. Lifeless. Lazy. Manchester United put in one of their worst performances in years to pile the pressure on Jose Mourinho.
It seems a long time since he was ‘The Special One’. And if he isn’t careful he will be ‘The Unemployed One’ because this cannot go on.
Mourinho wanted a centre-back this summer and seems to spend most of his time complaining about not getting one.
But it would have taken more than a Harry Maguire or Toby Alderweireld to fix this mess.
United had never conceded three goals in the first half under Mourinho before and their fans could not believe what they were seeing as Brighton took advantage of some woeful defending.
Comical
United fan Glenn Murray set the ball rolling, with a goal from Shane Duffy and a penalty from Pascal Gross either side of a Romelu Lukaku strike putting the visitors right up against it.
And United did not respond until deep into what used to be known as Fergie time, when Paul Pogba scored from the spot.
Mourinho can moan all he wants, and boy does he seem to enjoy it. But Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof were both signed on his watch – and they looked like total strangers.
At times United were so bad it was comical. Pogba, dreadful almost throughout, played a simple pass into touch. Lukaku was mocked for a backheel that went terribly wrong.
All this against a
Brighton team who saw skipper
Lewis Dunk suffer a nastylooking injury and have to be replaced after 20 minutes.
This performance by United was all too reminiscent of Mourinho’s dying days at Chelsea, when his players stopped listening and were accused of downing tools.
If that happens at United there is no way back. It may be happening already.
With Alexis Sanchez out after suffering an injury in training, Anthony Martial found a way back into United’s first team after being fined for going AWOL in pre-season.
But he was utterly anonymous before being hauled off, with Lukaku also looking rusty on his first start of the season despite his goal.
For Brighton there were few surprises, but they suffered an early blow when Dunk limped off after injuring himself in a tackle on Lukaku. He later reappeared on the bench with his foot in a protective boot.
The Seagulls, who won this fixture last season, went in front in the 25th minute when Murray eluded Lindelof and got on the end of a Solly March cross to score with a nifty finish.
Just over two minutes later they scored again, with Duffy firing home after a goalmouth