The temptation on occasions like this is to draw comparisons with the past, but there really aren’t any. The Manchester United team that Denis Law graced feels as far away from this modern-day rabble 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. They are in 13th place, 10 points above the danger zone.
A measure of their despair reaches back even further than that. A sixth league defeat in 12 games at home is statistically the club’s worst start to a season in 131 years since 1893-94 when they were Newton Heath, not Manchester United, and didn’t play at Old Trafford.
Were it not for Amad Diallo’s hat-trick heroics against bottom-of-the-table Southampton last week, it would have been seven defeats. ‘You thought you were back, but you’re still s***,’ sang the jubilant Brighton fans, who are getting quite accustomed to celebrating at Old Trafford these days.
This was their team’s third straight win in the Premier League here, equalling a feat matched only by Manchester City. Brighton have now won six of their last seven league games against United. We really shouldn’t be surprised by these scorelines anymore.
Manchester United have now lost six games in their last nine in the Premier League
Brighton deserved their victory and stifled any optimism United felt after their midweek comeback against Southampton
It was a day to forget for Andre Onana as his error led to Georginio Rutter’s closing goal
United were a mess again. As bad as Brighton were good. None of their players emerged from this one with any credit, even Diallo.
Kaoru Mitoma had Noussair Mazraoui on toast down United’s right, scoring one goal and setting up another for Yankuba Minteh. Andre Onana blundered for the third, putting it on a plate for Georginio Rutter.
Ruben Amorim withdrew his midfield tandem early for the second game in a row, Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte hardly laying a glove on this vibrant Brighton side.
United captain Bruno Fernandes equalised from the spot, but United failed to have a shot on goal from open play at home in the league for the first time in nine years.
‘I don’t really get it,’ said Fernandes. ‘We talk all the time about how difficult it is to play at Old Trafford. How can it be that Manchester United has difficulties to play at their home ground with the atmosphere that we have, with the great stadium and everything?’
Law is the last of the United Trinity to pass on. The statue of him standing between George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton truly belongs to a different age now. A paradise lost.
The latest incumbent of his No.10 shirt, Marcus Rashford, isn’t even deserved worthy of consideration despite earning £315,000-a-week.
‘I don’t want to put this moment on Rashford because he is not playing,’ said Amorim. ‘No matter what, I’m not going to play a player that I don’t believe is the best for the team.’
Old Trafford paid tribute to cub legend Denis Law, who died at the age of 84 earlier this week
Yankuba Minteh opened the scoring after just five minutes, denying United a clean sheet for a 12th game in a row
Bruno Fernandes got the hosts back level from the penalty spot early in the first period
Joao Pedro had a goal ruled out early in the second half after a foul by Jan Paul van Hecke in the build-up
The United boss didn’t duck any issues after the latest debacle. This United team might just be the worst in United’s history, Amorim admitted, and he might be right.
They were behind inside five minutes and there was a horrible simplicity about the goal. Carlos Baleba’s ball over the top released Mitoma down the left. Mazraoui had lost track of his man and Harry Maguire was playing him onside. Mitoma unselfishly squared for Minteh to score from close-range.
‘It’s a simple play,’ lamented Amorim. ‘If there is one thing Brighton do it is to push the centre-back and then the winger makes the moment.’
United levelled in the 23rd minute and once again Diallo was the catalyst. Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen played a pass out to Yasin Ayari but United’s new hero anticipated it and ambushed the Swede with a well-timed tackle.
The ball ran for Joshua 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.
‘The only time we were too passive was after we scored the goal,’ said Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler. ‘In general, we were very mature and controlled the game.’
Brighton thought they had regained the lead with another early goal seven minutes into the second half following a free kick into a crowded United penalty box.
The ball bobbed about until Joao Pedro brought it under control and span away from Zirkzee before firing through Onana’s legs. However, United protested that Jan Paul van Hecke had kicked Diogo Dalot after the United defender cleared the ball, and the referee agreed once he had been advised to review it on the VAR monitor.
Kaoru Mitoma restored Brighton’s deserved lead and became the highest-scoring Japanese star in Premier League history
Rutter capitalised on Onana’s howler to give Brighton daylight and set them on course for a comfortable victory
Brighton fans didn’t have to wait much longer, though. Ayari breezed past 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.
Rutter killed off United with his fourth goal in the last three games, and this one was on Onana.
The Cameroon keeper should have comfortably gathered Ayari’s low cross in the 76th minute but somehow allowed the ball to escape from his grasp and the Brighton substitute rounded Onana and last man Matthijs de Ligt to score in an empty net.
‘Our players are really nervous. If I feel it, the players feel it a lot,’ admitted Amorim. ‘We have to maintain focus to win games, that is the only way we can turn things around.’
