Man United 2-1 Brighton: Bias spares United blushes against Albion again
Oh how the mighty Manchester United have fallen. For the second time this season, Man United had to blatantly cheat their way to taking points from a small Premier League club like Brighton as the Red Devils stole a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford.
When the sides met in Sussex earlier in the season, referee Chris Kavanagh managed to award a 97th minute penalty after the final whistle had blown and when he had indicated there would be only six minutes of time added on.
Bruno Fernandes converted, the game finished Brighton 2-3 Manchester United and Sussex Police had a daylight robbery to investigate.
Things were not quite as farcical this time around. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer should still have been giving VAR and Mike Dean a nice Easter present afterwards though, as a thank you for their controversial second half decision not to award Brighton a blatant penalty – a moment which went a long way towards ensuring Solksjaer did not suffer the embarrassment of becoming the first United manager ever to lose a home game to the Albion.
The incident in question occurred with 70 minutes on the clock when Neal Maupay swept a low cross into the box which Danny Welbeck looked well-placed to convert.
That was until Harry Maguire pulled Welbeck back, preventing the former United striker from scoring his second goal of the game against his former club.
Unless you wear the most red-tinted of spectacles, it was a clear foul. If Lewis Dunk does that on Marcus Rashford up the other end, then a penalty is awarded and no questions are asked.
Unbelievably though, Mr Dean waved play on. Even more unbelievably, VAR even had a look and concluded with the referee’s view. No penalty.
Further proof that there is more chance of Jim Davidson standing in the 2024 US Presidential elections than there is of a smaller Premier League club getting something in their favour at Old Trafford.
You know a decision is a poor one when Graham Potter publicly disagrees with it and that is what we got in the Brighton manager’s interview after Man United 2-1 Brighton. The Match of the Day panel agreed with Potter too.
How much of a game changing moment was that? If it had been Maupay, Aaron Connolly or any other Albion forward on the end of the cross, you could argue that there would be no guarantees they would have converted even from a matter of yards with only Dean Henderson to beat.
Welbeck though is a different breed of forward, as his opener in front of the Stretford End had shown. He would have gobbled the opportunity up had Maguire not thought he was appearing in the main even at Wrestlemania and wrapped his arms around Dat Guy.
Of course, there are no guarantees that the Albion would have scored the spot kick either. Nobody wants to be reminded of what happened a little over a month ago in West Brom 1-0 Brighton, when both Pascal Gross and Welbeck missed penalties in the space of an hour to set a new benchmark in Brighton’s ability for conjuring up the ridiculous.
Even with the Albion’s inglorious record from the spot, it would have been nice to see the actual rules of football applied and been given the chance to find out if somebody in blue can convert from 12 yards.
You could even make an argument that Maguire should have seen red for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity as the last man and suddenly, Brighton are 2-1 up against 10 men with 20 minutes left to play.
United made the most of their reprieve, Mason Greenwood scoring the winner via a stooping header from an attempted volley spooned off Paul Pogba’s shin 13 minutes after the penalty incident.
Greenwood’s effort somehow crept through a gap between Robert Sanchez and Ben White, neither of whom was entirely convincing in their efforts to keep it out.
United’s second was hardly as a surprise as Brighton had spent most of the second half under the cosh. The Albion had an xG of 0.00 after the break, indicating just how dominant United were.
That makes the lack of penalty hurt even more; the one time we managed to get into the United box and it was halted illegally. To answer the earlier question, it was a genuine, game changing decision.
The first half of Man United 2-1 Brighton was a different story entirely to the host’s dominance of the second. A combination of a poor United performance and Solksjaer not being able to find a way to cope with Potter’s new idea of deploying his two centre forwards so wide meant that the Albion deservedly led going into the break.
United’s only real chance of the opening 45 came in the eighth minute when Dunk’s clearing header fell straight to Greenwood, whose volley rattled the post with Sanchez beaten.
Brighton went straight up the other end after surviving that scare to take the lead through a goal brought about by Potter’s tactical acumen.
Maupay made the most of the instructions to operate almost as a winger, swinging over the perfect cross for Welbeck to meet with a bullet header.
Henderson did brilliantly to keep out the initial effort, but the rebound fell straight back onto the head of Dat Guy who showed quick reactions to nod into the now unguarded net.
For the first time since 1983, Brighton now led at Old Trafford. Welbeck wrote a bit of personal history for himself too, becoming the first ex-United player ever to score three times against his former club.
Pascal Gross’ inviting free kick then gave Dunk a chance to double the lead, only for his towering header to be tipped over the bar at full stretch by Henderson who was already vindicating Solksjaer’s decision to pick him over David De Gea.
Adam Lallana was the best player on the pitch once again, Welbeck was having the time of his life against his old employers and Yves Bissouma looked back to his best after a couple of months of below par performances compared to the high standards he set in the first half of the season.
A cynic might suggest that Bissouma stepped up a gear to impress a club and manager who have been linked with a big money move for his services this summer. On this showing, United should be paying over £50 million if they want to secure the Malian for 2021-22.
If Bissouma does move on, then Jakub Moder will have no problems taking over from him in the middle of the park. Fresh from scoring against England at Wembley on Wednesday night, the Pole was a whirl of driving runs and little flicks at left wing back, a position lest we forget he had never played in his life prior to arriving at the Amex in January.
Moder nearly crowned a lovely first half performance from the Albion by doubling the lead on the stroke of half time, only to see his volley from a dangerous Gross corner deflected inches wide.
It seemed unlikely that United would be so poor after the break and the start of the second half was rather like the Alamo. Brighton survived for 15 minutes before Rashford levelled things up; he seems to love scoring against the Albion almost as much as he does forcing the government into embarrassing u-turns about feeding hungry children.
A loose touch from Joel Veltman sent Bruno Fernandes on his way and although Veltman managed to recover and tackle Fernandes, the ball fell to Rashford who opened up his body to drill a shot across Sanchez and into the opposite corner.
Alexis Mac Allister replaced Trossard and it was the Argentinian’s long ball forward which released Maupay in the build up to the penalty incident.
Minutes after Mr Dean had denied the Albion their spot kick, he waved play on after Lallana was crunched in what appeared a pretty obvious foul.
Seconds later and Sanchez spilled Daniel James’ effort from distance but luckily Greenwood could only scoop the rebound over the bar.
The young United forward made no mistake with his next opportunity and that ensured it finished Man United 2-1 Brighton. Further frustration on the biggest stage for the Albion, which unfortunately is part-and-parcel of life as a Premier League club that are not part of the big six.
Maybe one day we will meet United on a level playing field. For now though, all we can do is take comfort in the fact that the most successful club in the history of English football can only beat Brighton & Hove Albion with the help of match officials making up the rules as they go.
