UNITED HIT A NEW LOW
Even Ronaldo’s laughing after dismal defeat
THREE decades after he went to university in these parts, Ralf Rangnick is still looking for answers. Answers for why the tune he orchestrates is so consistently awful and answers on just how low Manchester United must go before they bounce.
That certainly will not come on his watch. He has only one more game in this woeful gig, and then it is Erik ten Hag’s problem, so who knows what kind of send off Rangnick will be afforded by this gutless, shameless, witless bunch of chancers at Crystal Palace a fortnight from now?
Which is not to excuse Rangnick before he whistles and skips off to Austria. Not one bit. They were going quite well under him for a time, but that was a while back. More recently?
It is five wins in 18 across the competitions, and that says nothing for the defeats, none of which looked quite so bleak as this. The 4-1 at Watford in November was bad, but this was worse, a loss so poor
that even their supporters sang at 3-0: ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt.’
The insult could be interpreted in at least two ways: as a commentary on the endless parade of garbage from their once mighty club, which is now formally out of the race for the top four, and also as an observation of elite athletes puffing in fruitless, tired chases inside the first half. Truly they were as atrocious as Brighton were brilliant.
First, to some housekeeping — the goals came from Moises Caicedo, who United tried to sign, and then via Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard, with the last three scored in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.
To say United lacked courage would seem a little basic, not to mention a repetition of what has been proven so many times before now.
Where this differed is that Brighton, for all their style and quality, are hardly known for freescoring abandon. Quite the opposite, and here they could have had six or seven goals with better bounces.
That they found it so easy was down in part to United’s mindnumbing inability to perform the most elementary aspects of defending — see the first goal — and also their failure to show any pride in their work — see the second and third.
By the fourth goal, even the VAR fancied a laugh at their expense.
But beyond that incompetence, and figures for conceding which now rank as their worst since 1979, we must look to Brighton. And to Graham Potter.
He is the favourite to replace Antonio Conte if the Italian leaves Tottenham, and on this basis Spurs would be fortunate to have him. If only Brighton had a reliable striker, they would be in a European place; it is a measure of how well they have done without one that they still might.
They were simply immense, a group of players showing what is possible with the correct organisation and motivation. United’s hierarchy must view them as peculiar organisms from another planet.
To think, Rangnick’s side had arrived here with the wind of a 3-0 win over Brentford in their sails. As such he made no changes to his side, with Juan Mata given a second straight start behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who was stationed at the tip of the spear in a 4-2-3-1.
The plan, as best anyone can ever tell with United these days, was for Mata to serve as the main line of supply with his subtle service through the middle.
The problem is that once more none of it worked. In this instance, that was predominantly down to the work of Caicedo, who either side of his goal muffled
Mata into insignificance. It was similar in design to the suffocation job performed by Yves Bissouma on Son Heung-Min in Brighton’s win at Tottenham last month.
The upshot was nothing of value made it through to Ronaldo across the whole of the opening 45 minutes. When he did see possession, the Portuguese star was a shadow of himself, with one pass into touch, a dribble out of play and a free-kick that passed 10 feet over the bar, all before he was given a yellow card for sliding in on Lewis Dunk. His mood matched the performance.
While his side-drama was playing out, Brighton were having a ball. The opening goal, which came after quarter of an hour, was rooted in desperately slack defending. The move had started with a punt forward and escalated when Alex
Telles botched a clearKaenecepebyr’hseading vertically. Grossptahesns drove at the loose ball and a block rebounded it close to Caicedo, ouBtsriidgehtthoenarpelaa.yer He stretched to retrimevoeviteamndensetnt a low shot of limited power back to
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goal that somehow outpaced the glacial reactions of defender Victor Lindelof and beat keeper David de Gea.
At half-time Rangnick sought help through Fred and Edinson Cavani from the bench, but it was soon a rout.
The second goal originated with Trossard chasing an overhit cross with more enthusiasm than anyone in red, before pulling back for Marc Cucurella.
He smashed into the slither of space between De Gea and his near post — no one had tracked his run, of course. A moment later,
Trossard teed up Gross, who skipped easily by Raphael Varane and rolled across De Gea.
Trossard bundled in a fourth goal amid a suspicion of handball and offside, but nothing went United’s way. In truth, the visitors deserved no better.