Brighton 2-3 Manchester United: Player, crossbar and referee ratings
Chris Kavanagh is bloody lucky we do not dabble in referee ratings following his performance in Brighton & Hove Albion’s 2-3 defeat to Manchester United.
God only knows what sort of scores Mr Kavanagh would have attracted after his decision to award United a penalty three minutes after the game had finished and once he had blown his final whistle.
We will take a guess at -10, the same rating as Simon Hooper in the VAR studio who told Mr Kavanagh to give United that penalty, missed the fact the ball had blatantly gone out of play in the build up to Neal Maupay’s handball and overruled a spot kick awarded for a foul on Aaron Connolly earlier in the afternoon.
All of that nonsense cost the Albion the point which was the least that they deserved for another excellent performance. Every Brighton player was better than their United counterpart, a remarkable outcome given how much Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has lavished on his squad.
The only department in which United excelled was the frame of the goal. United’s woodwork was their best player, saving David De Gea from conceding on five occasions. Crossbar and post would have scored 10 for the visitors, that is how dependent on them they were to escape Sussex with three points.
If Brighton keep playing like this, then one day soon an opposition is going to take an absolute pasting. Here are your player ratings for Brighton & Hove Albion 2-3 Manchester United.
Maty Ryan – 7.07
We didn’t think that he could do much more with the three United goals, although there were several comments that he should have done better with the first. It was a quiet afternoon otherwise, which says a lot about how dominant the Albion were.
Adam Webster – 7.73
Another solid defensive showing was a reminder of how far he has come since the early days of last season when he often looked like a catastrophe waiting to happen. Only denied a goal thanks to a combination of De Gea’s fingertips and the crossbar.
Lewis Dunk – 7.07
The reigning WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Season has had something of a slow start to the current campaign by his normal high standards. Credited with an own goal for United’s first and then deflected Marcus Rashford’s excellent second past Ryan.
Ben White – 7.87
Found himself led on a merry dance by Rashford for his goal, a reminder of the difference in quality between the Championship and Premier League. Other than that, he did well to be the highest scoring Brighton defender in the player ratings for the 2-3 defeat to Manchester United.
Tariq Lamptey – 7.87
His pace and positivity earned a penalty for the second Premier League game running. United though had done their homework and put a lot of effort into keeping him quiet, which left more space for Solly March to work in on the other flank.
Adam Lallana – 7.67
Managed to last for longer than 43 minutes and displayed some nice touches in the middle of the park. His speed of thought and the way in which he moves the ball are already making a real difference compared to the sometimes ponderous approach and desire to keep possession for possessions sake which we saw at times in 2019-20.
Steve Alzate – 8.40
Ever since he broke through last season, we knew he had talent. He was the best central midfielder on the pitch against United, no mean feat considering the visitors arrived with nearly £200 million worth of players in that area alone.
SOLLY MARCH – 8.80
With Dale Stephens’ transfer to Burnley signed and sealed last week, March seemed like the obvious man to take over the mantle of boo boys favourite. That won’t be happening anytime soon based on this performance as he topped the player ratings for Brighton 2-3 Manchester United with his best showing as a Premier League player. Looks completely at home as a left wing back.
Leandro Trossard – 8.47
Ran United ragged all afternoon to maintain his excellent start to the season. The only criticism you could have is that he perhaps should have done better with at least one of the three chances he rattled the woodwork with. If he becomes a more clinical finisher, then Brighton could already have that 15 goal-a-season player in their squad.
Neal Maupay – 7.53
His penalty oozed confidence and he linked up play well. Undid all that good work though by stupidly raising his arm in the box in the final seconds. Whilst it is easy to blame the referee, VAR and United always getting those kind of decisions go their way for the late winner, Maupay has to shoulder at least a small proportion of blame for the needless handball.
Aaron Connolly – 7.67
Caused some serious headaches for the United defence when his running got him in behind. Earned one penalty which was overturned by VAR and should have had another when Harry Maguire could not halt him legally so instead resorted to hauling him down in the box.
Pascal Gross – 6.67
Has enjoyed some of his best Brighton performances against United in the past. Used the ball well in his limited time on the pitch.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh – 7.13
Added something new on the right of the front three and played a part in March’s equaliser. If he keeps delivering cameos like this and impressing in the Carabao Cup, he will surely get a chance to start in the Premier League before long.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
