Fresh ‘Lule’ for Man Utd as fans boo players and manager after Brighton defeat
Defeat and boos. The clocks do not go back for another month and Manchester United have already reached crisis point. The cracked badge will appear on the back page of newspapers in the coming days.
The boos were in response to the removal of full debutant Rasmus Hojlund, denied a goal by the Video Assistant Referee in the first half. The identity of his replacement, the anodyne Anthony Martial, did little to lift the mood.
Hojlund has not played 90 minutes since his penultimate appearance for Atalanta in May and he has had a stress fracture of the back to recover from.
That context was inconsequential to United matchgoers starting at the scoreboard that read 'United 0-2 Brighton' with 64 minutes on the clock. It switched to 3-0 seven minutes later.
Martial, three-and-a-half hours early for training at Carrington on Thursday in a rare display of eagerness, was ordered to quicken his preparation to come on by Erik ten Hag. Turning to Martial and taking Hojlund off in an hour of need did not augur well with startled supporters.
"Can we play you every week?" asked the travelling Brighton supporters. Hannibal Mejbri was affronted enough by that to larrup in his first United goal on a rare but deserved outing. It rallied those who had remained after Joao Pedro's strike sparked a mass exodus.
Ten Hag strolled straight onto the pitch at full-time and shook hands with the officials. When he turned and approached the Stretford End, it was half empty. This was Ten Hag's worst day on home territory in Manchester. This is the first time United have lost three out of their first five Premier League games.
His unbeaten home run in the Premier League as United manager started after defeat to Brighton and it ended with defeat to Brighton. United have lost to all three top-six teams they have faced now. Some United supporters magnanimously congratulated the Brighton analysts as they trudged down the gangway.
A third loss in four games was compounded by the simmering mutiny. United supporters implored Ten Hag to send on Alejandro Garnacho sooner than the 84th minute and Marcus Rashford's body language piqued some of the crowd more than once.
Brighton have the hex over United. This was their fourth successive league victory over them and possibly the most impressive. Roberto de Zerbi made six changes from the team that vanquished Newcastle a fortnight ago. Brighton are not merely United's equals; they are the superior side and one of the best teams in Europe, never mind in England.
Danny Welbeck and Pascal Gross's penchant for scoring against United continued. Bogeyman Gross rifled in his seventh against them 405 days on from his matchwinning double at Old Trafford. Gross was the matchwinner again.
Ten Hag will do well to avoid peddling another conspiracy theory over a marginal line. Matt Hargreaves, United's transfer negotiator, could be seen studying his phone for a conclusive image of whether Rashford had taken the ball too far before diverting it back to Hojlund. Some United staff were adamant the replay was inconclusive and one suggested the VAR's intervention was "guesswork".
"Your city is blue," crowed those in the away end. Ten Hag has never been so animated in the Old Trafford dugout. The demanding De Zerbi could afford to eventually applaud the support as Brighton homed in on another striking triumph.
"We want our ball back," the Brighton fans demanded during one of the rare phases where United hogged possession. That was in the 95th minute.
Brighton are a model club and United are the antithesis. A banner was unfurled in the Stretford End that read, "History dignity integrity - you stole it all". The Glazers were again not at Old Trafford watching.
