Another early exit!

If the start to the season wasn’t already disappointing, the weekend defeat to rival City certainly upped the stakes of this one, and despite a hugely promising first 10 minutes of the game against Brighton, a complete and utter collapse leaves United once again out of another domestic cup at the first time of asking (also against Brighton) and adds a huge pressure onto Carrick and co with just one final game to play before an extended international break where no doubt all focus will be on the now permanent manager even at this early stage of the season. With the on-field poor showing, off-field questions and huge boardroom issues around fans and ticketing, and even the story swirling around the young star JJ Gabriel, United have gone from a quiet and composed summer, to complete collapse in the span of 6 games this season.

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Teams

Manchester United: Darlow, Mazraoui, Heaven, Yoro, Dalot, Tielemans, Santos (Mainoo 66′), Rashford (Cunha 80′), Mount (Fernandes 73′), Lacey (Mbeumo 66′), Sesko (Zirkzee 66′)

Subs: Lammens, Maguire, Amass, Fletcher

Brighton: Steele, Hadjam (Kadioglu 74′), Struijk, Vuskovic, Costinha, Boscagli (Ayari 74′), Gross, Andres, Yalcouye (De Cuyper 66′), Kostoulas (Rutter 82′), O’Riley (Gomez 66′)

Subs: Verbruggen, Dunk, Osman, David

Manchester United 2-3 Brighton & Hove Albion

Manchester United’s Carabao Cup campaign came crashing to an early end on Wednesday night as Brighton & Hove Albion produced a remarkable comeback to win 3-2 at Old Trafford. For ten minutes, everything looked to be going perfectly for Michael Carrick’s side. Teenage winger Shea Lacey opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a composed finish after cutting inside, before Mason Mount doubled United’s advantage just two minutes later. With the home side playing with energy and confidence, a comfortable victory suddenly appeared to be on the cards. Instead, Brighton gradually found their rhythm and turned the tie completely on its head.

United had chances to put the game beyond Brighton, but the intensity that had characterised their opening spell began to fade. Benjamin Sesko provided a lively presence up front, while Lacey continued to look dangerous, but United failed to build on their two-goal cushion. Brighton were handed a crucial lifeline in first-half stoppage time when Charalampos Kostoulas pulled one back, finding the net after a long ball created uncertainty in the United defence. The goal changed the mood inside Old Trafford and gave Fabian Hürzeler’s side something to build on going into the interval.

The second half belonged to Brighton. United struggled to create the same attacking threat and were punished by a Seagulls side that grew increasingly confident. Pascal Gross brought Brighton level in the 65th minute, finishing after excellent work in the build-up, and just four minutes later substitute Maxim De Cuyper completed the turnaround from close range. Carrick responded by introducing Bruno Fernandes and later Matheus Cunha in an attempt to rescue the tie, but United could not find an equaliser. Marcus Rashford came closest when he was presented with a late one-on-one opportunity, only to see his effort denied by Jason Steele.

The final whistle was met by a chorus of boos from the Old Trafford crowd, with United left to reflect on a defeat that will sting for some time. Losing after leading 2-0 at home was particularly painful: according to Reuters, it was the first time in 50 years that United had surrendered such a lead at Old Trafford, with Tottenham the last team to achieve the feat in 1976. For Brighton, meanwhile, the comeback sends them into the fourth round and provides another memorable victory away to United. For Carrick and his players, the focus now turns firmly back to the Premier League, with the League Cup already gone and plenty of work required to restore confidence after a difficult start to the campaign.

Talking Points

Before we get into the negatives of this game, the first 10 minutes was hugely promising, with youngster Shea Lacey given a senior start in the game, he made the most of his opportunity with a good goal in the 8th minute which the crowd could hugely get behind. Not only having a young academy talent scoring the opener at Old Trafford, but given the story swirling around JJ Gabriel, this showed that opportunities for young talents is there at United, and showed the merit of getting your head down and working and showing your talent in any given opportunity. Mason Mount added a quick 2nd to give United complete control of the game and fans would have been understood for hoping for a big score line to put aside their poor recent showings in the league.

However, the complete opposite happened from the 11th minute onwards, as United retreated, they fell back and lost control almost instantly of the game, as they were forced into mistakes and sloppy play, while Brighton’s press and high intensity proved too much to handle for United’s rotated side. As a result, they were level in the 65th minute and Brighton pushed on for the eventual winner in the 69th minute. While United looked to their key players from the bench, Brighton didn’t stop their relentless push and instead looked the more likely side to get another goal as the frustration from the crowd was clear to sense.

Following this, United have now lost their 3 last domestic cup games, losing last year to Grimsby in the League Cup 3rd round in a hugely embarrassing showing, and then the FA Cup 3rd round loss and this years League Cup 3rd round exit both at home at the hands of Brighton, and while Ten Hag and some previous United managers have utilised the domestic cups for moments of joy, rotation and silverware, in the last year it’s been a complete disaster. United only have Sunday’s game against Fulham before the extended international break and this could be make-or-break for Carrick and even some of the higher-ups as there’s no doubt that anything but a comprehensive win would pile huge pressure on the club, and it would be really nice to have a few weeks where United don’t fill the back-pages.