Thomas Hein
Full Time: Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 Manchester United
Manchester United suffered a rather embarrassing 1-0 loss at the hands of Brighton and Hove Albion which also created an unwanted record.
The loss means that we have not picked up a point against any of the three promoted sides this season away from home.
United did play with a changed squad as Jose Mourinho tried to shake things up a bit before the FA Cup final but the attack barely threatened. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial could not do the damage, as Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez were out injured.
Pascal Gross scored the winning header of the game but it was a toothless performance from United and there is a lot of work required if we are to win the FA Cup against Chelsea.
While Rashford and Martial were a couple of poor performers, there were a few others who didn’t play up to expectations.
Manchester United Player Ratings
David de Gea – 7.5/10
The goalkeeper was once again our best performer as he kept Brighton out a couple of times and ensured we were still in the game.
Matteo Darmian – 4/10
Darmian didn’t have a great game, to be honest, and he didn’t defend the goal well either as Gross easily scored.
Chris Smalling – 5.5/10
Another player who did not do well at the back. There was something amiss with Smalling as his concentration level was not great.
Marcos Rojo – 6/10
This was the Argentine’s first appearance for us in almost three months and although he didn’t perform all that poorly, there was a lot of rustiness in his play.
Ashley Young – 6.5/10
Young was the captain on the night and he put in a decent enough performance at left-back, though he didn’t attack as much as he usually does.
Marouane Fellaini – 4/10
The Belgian was barely in the game, though he did have a goal chalked off early on.
Nemanja Matic – 5/10
Matic surprisingly had a poor game and even though he tried his best, the Serbian was dominated in the midfield by Brighton.
Paul Pogba – 5.5/10
The Frenchman tried his best but this was just not our day. The midfielder struggled to do things right but at least he tried.
Juan Mata – 4/10
Another player who seemed to be missing, Mata was even played centrally as a striker at times and that did not work at all.
Marcus Rashford – 4/10
The youngster started well but slowly faded away from the game and this performance will not get him a start in the FA Cup final.
Anthony Martial – 4/10
If Martial continues to play like how he did against Brighton, Mourinho will have no second thoughts about shipping him off.
Substitutes
Luke Shaw – 5/10
The left-back didn’t have the impact that most would have expected him to have.
Jesse Lingard – 6/10
Lingard tried to bring energy to the team and even had a decent chance to score but just could not get the ball into the net.
Scott McTominay – 5/10
The youngster did his best but it was not enough to make a difference.
