Manchester United 1-3 Brighton: Albion own Old Trafford… again
There are so many different angles you can take on Manchester United 1-3 Brighton that it almost feels impossible to know where to start.
Are the Albion now genuine Champions League contenders? Could they even challenge Manchester City for the title? If Roberto De Zerbi was thrown into the sea off the Palace Pier, would he end up walking on water back to the beach?
Why does Pascal Gross have such a hold over United? What was Solly March smoking on the bus home to post such a rare and strange Instagram story? Should Danny Welbeck be back in the England squad?
Ultimately though, the biggest talking point should be about money. Thanks mainly to Erik ten Hag. Perhaps the Manchester United manager had a puff on the same crack pipe as March and that is what led to his post-match comments complaining about cold, hard cash.
“All the teams have spent a lot of money. Brighton have spent money. When Man United come, it inflates the price. That is also true,” said Ten Hag afterwards as a means of trying to excuse the full time score of Manchester United 1-3 Brighton.
This excuse was even thinner than the United manager’s hairline. The Albion starting XI who won at Old Trafford cost under £17 million to put together, the most expensive player being Gross who was purchased for £3 million six years ago.
United in contrast paid £19 million for full back Diogo Dalot alone. They have forked out £991.7 million to assemble their current squad and yet their supporters still accuse the Glazer family of being bad owners.
For all the green and gold scarves, the Glazers Out banners and the protests, the uncomfortable truth is that United do not suffer from underinvestment. They are just shit at spending money.
The reason that the Albion team who beat United cost so little is because Roberto De Zerbi made wholesale changes. This makes Manchester United 1-3 Brighton an even more phenomenal result.
There was no Pervis Estupinan. No Billy Gilmour. No Joao Pedro. No Evan Ferguson. No March. And none of the new signings purchased amid much fanfare during the final week of the summer 2023 transfer window. Carlos Baleba and Barcelona number 10 Ansu Fati both had to settle for places on the bench.
Not even Manchester City go to Old Trafford and rest five first choice players. De Zerbi does… and such is his talent as a coach that it makes absolutely no difference to what happens on the pitch.
Even with a starting XI which looked like it had been selected after one too many morning grappa alongside a shot of espresso, De Zerbi is capable of delivering one of the most famous wins in Albion history.
Just in case you hadn’t realised, he is a special head coach on his way to becoming one of the very best in the world. Brighton fans should enjoy and treasure him for every minute we are fortunate enough to have him in charge of our football club.
In the opening stages of Manchester United 1-3 Brighton, it appeared as though De Zerbi had got things wrong with his team selection.
The hosts started the brighter side thanks mainly to the leader of His Majesty’s Opposition Marcus Rashford, who took time out of shaming the government to test the Albion defence.
Rashford danced his way past Jan Paul van Hecke and Joel Veltman to draw a good save from the legs of Jason Steele in an early opportunity.
Brighton struggled to do much until a former United favourite stunned Old Trafford by starting and then finishing a sublime move to give the Albion the lead with 20 minutes on the clock.
Welbeck fed Simon Adingra down the right before continuing his run into the box. Adingra duly crossed, Adam Lallana left the ball with a very clever dummy and that meant Welbeck was on hand to place the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot without breaking stride.
The Stretford End looked on, aghast. Playing United is always fun as you get to see a lot of nonsense tweets from deluded Red Devils supporters.
In the build up to this one, one such post claimed Evan Ferguson would be begging for a summer move to Old Trafford when he stepped out at the Theatre of Dreams for the first time and heard the Stretford End sing.
The Stretford End was emptying out with 15 minutes still to play
Manchester United lost 3-1 to Brighton. There is absolutely no way he is swapping the Albion for the circus that is Old Trafford
Other than that, great post #BHAFC https://t.co/NSZPtthQCJ
— We Are Brighton (@wearebrighton) September 16, 2023
Instead, the Albion were able to rest Ferguson. Brighton totally outplayed United. And the Stretford End were booing Ten Hag’s substitutions and emptying with 20 minutes still to play.
Rashford remained the biggest United threat after the Seagulls took the lead. He rattled a post via a flying Veltman block and then almost claimed an assist when escaping to the by-line and pulling a cross back for Rasmus Hojlund to convert.
Luckily for Brighton, VAR took a look and found that Rashford had run the ball out of play. Hojlund was therefore denied his first United goal since his £64 million transfer from Atalanta.
Yes, Hojlund the one United player cost four times as much as the Albion starting XI. Remind us again what that shiny bonce fraud Ten Hag was saying about spending money?
The second half was eight minutes old when Gross got his traditional goal against United. Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey linked up on the left with the latter playing a pass into the box.
Der Kaiser arrived on the scene, feinted which left Lisandro Martinez completely flummoxed and then stroked the ball into the bottom corner for the 28th Premier League goal of his career.
Seven of those have now come against the Red Devils, including that famous brace which gave Brighton a 2-1 win over United last season in what was the Albion’s first ever victory at Old Trafford.
United had not lost a home game since that day in August 2022. 13 months and 31 matches had passed. The confirmation that their long unbeaten run was at an end came when substitute Joao Pedro made it 3-0 on 71 minutes.
Lamptey was having an absolute stormer at left back reminiscent of his form during lockdown before that nasty hamstring injury struck to rule him out for nine months.
His run down the wing and pass into the unmarked Pedro was brilliantly fired into the far corner by the Albion’s record buy at £30 million – less than half of what United paid for Hojlund.
The hosts pulled one back when Hannibal Mejbri gobbled up a chance two minutes, beating Steele from 25 yards to deny Brighton a first clean sheet of the season.
That though was as good as it got for United. Brighton could and probably should have added to the scoreline in the final 15, only for Andre Onana to make three excellent saves from Mitoma, Ferguson and Fati.
United left the field to a mixed sound of disgust and apathy. Ten Hag desperately sought an excuse, any excuse, and ended up brandishing that ludicrous money card.
Brighton meanwhile soured into fourth spot in the table, the perfect way to prepare for their first ever European game on Thursday night against AEK Athens at the Amex.
The Albion have existed for 122 years. We are the lucky ones privileged enough to be watching the greatest team in the club’s history. What an honour and what a time to be a Brighton supporter.
