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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

Man Utd sink to new low in humiliating Brighton demolition - 6 talking points

Manchester United's miserable season plunged to another low by losing 4-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion in humiliating fashion.

Goals from Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard condemned the Red Devils to a third defeat in four trips to the Amex since their promotion to the top flight in 2017. Ralf Rangnick was building on a confidence-boosting 3-0 win at home to Brentford on Monday, but his penultimate match as interim manager will go down as his most embarrassing - which is some going.

United went down early through Caicedo's low drove and in the second half, the Seagulls scored three goals in 11 minutes to send the Amex into delirium. Their hosts' scintillating display showed why Graham Potter is one of the Premier League's most exciting bosses and built towards a record points tally for a Premier League campaign.

Meanwhile, the dismal Red Devils' travelling supporters told the players: "You're not fit to wear the shirt." United's stars could hardly argue with them, too, sinking to a new low by collecting the least amount of points and conceding the most goals in a single term throughout a Premier League era which has seen them beaten this badly on very few occasions.

Here are six talking points from the Amex.

1. Rangnick trusts the old guard

Just as he did for the 3-0 romp against Brentford, Ralf Rangnick went for an experienced XI on the south coast. The Red Devils boss started Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata, despite having fresher legs in Fred and Jesse Lingard at his disposal.

Pre-match, fans had hoped to see a raft of youngsters involved, but only full-back Alvaro Fernandez and Alejandro Garnacho got the nod, with both starting on the bench. Rangnick didn't see any issue with his unchanged team selection, having also left Harry Maguire among the substitutes.

"I have no reason to change anything, I know Harry would have wanted to play but we have other games Harry played and either Rapha Varane or Lindelof didn't play. This is part of the game and we have a good couple of central defenders and as I said I decided not to change anything," the United boss explained to MUTV.

"It's the same really [with Fred], I know how important Fred can be and especially defensive not as well offensively. We did well, Nemanja played well, Scotty played well, so we decided to have Fred on the bench and it's pretty likely that he will come on during the game."

2. Moises makes an impression

Next time someone wants another club to take notice when they're playing against them, look no further than Brighton's Moises Caicedo. Having openly admitted that his dream to play for the Red Devils, the 20-year-old showed his boyhood club exactly what he could do with his 15th-minute opener.

Caicedo took the ball under control 25 yards from goal before shifting the ball onto his right foot. His driven shot went between Victor Lindelof's legs and beyond the outstretched David de Gea, giving his side the lead and bagging his first goal in English football.

After only making his maiden Premier League appearance for the Seagulls 28 days go, the midfielder has shone in his five starts since. The Ecuadorian is one to watch at this year's World Cup, but could have been a familiar name to United fans more than a year ago.

Last January, the Red Devils pulled out of a deal with Independiente del Valle after negotiations, described as a 'cluster****', became to complex, according to the Manchester Evening News. But United's loss was Brighton's gain, as Graham Potter and co won the race by paying £4million.

3. Welbeck spares Varane's first-half blushes

With Rangnick's team showing little in the way of a response, the Seagulls came closest to getting the second goal of the game. After Cristiano Ronaldo sailed a free-kick towards the beachfront, Danny Welbeck almost haunted the Red Devils once again.

The United academy graduate, who spent five years in the senior setup under Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes, hasn't had the career he'd have hoped for but came close to reminding the travelling fans what made him such an exciting prospect. Pouncing on a lackadaisical Raphael Varane's bad touch, Welbeck attempted to lob De Gea from just outside the penalty area but, thankfully for the Frenchman and his helpless goalkeeper, his shot went over the bar.

Welbeck had scored for Arsenal at Old Trafford in an FA Cup quarter-final in 2015 and has forged a decent career away from his beloved Red Devils but went into half-time ruining another opportunity to punish his old employers. Rangnick's United needed to seriously up their game at the break, having failed to record a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

4. Cucurella's tears of joy

Despite making a double substitution at half-time to introduce Fred and Edinson Cavani, the 20-time champions of England came out for the second half as they ended the first: abysmally. Brighton full-back Marc Cucurella found space in the inside-left channel and fired into the roof of the net past a dumbfounded De Gea.

The Spaniard's strike was his first goal for the club at the end of an impressive first campaign after joining from Getafe. Cucurella, who came through at Barcelona, has been touted as one of the Premier League's best left-backs this term and it's hard to argue otherwise.

While his usual duties come in the form of defending and keeping possession, the 23-year-old demonstrated his eye for goal on this occasion and wheeled away in an emotional celebration, condemning the Red Devils to their worst season for goals conceded in the Premier League era. At least new gaffer Erik ten Hag's first job is clear.

Have your say! Will Ten Hag finish higher than Rangnick with Man Utd? Give us your prediction here.

5. Gross leaves Ronaldo laughing

On the other hand, Brighton were going for their record points tally in the Premier League and were taking full advantage of United's abject performance. Pascal Gross made it three by dancing around Lindelof and left Ronaldo chuckling at how bad his teammates had been.

But if the comedy level wasn't high enough, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was about to get another laugh just three minutes later - when there was still half an hour of football to be played.

6. Trossard caps four-some display

Having already got two assists to his name, Leandro Trossard turned Rangnick and co's humiliation into a nightmare by scoring the Seagulls' fourth. Racing beyond the crumbling Red Devils defence in a move with ole's from the crowd behind them, Welbeck burst into the box and chipped De Gea for a shot that, this time, was goal-bound.

But Diogo Dalot initially kept it out with a goal-line clearance, only for Trossard to bundle home and send the Amex into ludicrous levels of ecstasy. Hitting the post a few minutes later before Robert Sanchez did well to deny Cavani, Brighton were enjoying another memorable night when United came to town - and their first home win since Boxing Day.

Cue the chants from the away end, declaring: "You're not fit to wear the shirt." Barring a late flutter of chances, they were right.

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