Майкл Каррикийн удирдсан баг талбай дээрээ Брайтонд хожигдсоноор тэмцээнээ өндөрлүүлж, улирлын эхний зургаан тоглолтоос гурав дахь ялагдлаа хүлээв.
Лхагва гарагт Олд Траффорд цэнгэлдэхэд болсон тоглолтын эхэнд Шей Лейси болон Мэйсон Маунт нар гоол оруулснаар Манчестер Юнайтед 2-0-ийн харьцаатай тэргүүлж эхэлсэн. Гэвч Брайтон тоглолтын явцыг өөрийн талд эргүүлж, завсарлагааны өмнө Харалампос Костуласын гоолоор тооны харьцааг ойртуулсан юм. Хоёрдугаар үед Манчестер Юнайтедын хамгаалалт алдаа гаргаж, таван минутын дотор Максим Де Кюпер болон Паскаль Гросс нарт гоол алдсанаар 2-3-ын харьцаатай хожигдол хүлээлээ.
Энэ улиралд нийт зургаан тоглолт хийгээд буй Манчестер Юнайтедын хувьд 2013-14 оны улирлаас хойш анх удаа талбай дээрээ хоёр гоолоор тэргүүлж явсан тоглолтоо алдаж хожигдсон нь энэ юм. Майкл Каррик хамгаалалтын шугамд залуу тоглогчид болох Лени Йоро, Айден Хэвен нарыг гараанд гаргасан ч тэд өрсөлдөгчийнхөө дарамтад орж, тоглолтын турш тогтворгүй тоглолт үзүүлсэн. Бруну Фернандеш зэрэг туршлагатай тоглогчид сэлгээнээс талбайд гарсан ч тоглолтын үр дүнг өөрчилж чадсангүй.
Тус багийн хувьд өнгөрсөн долоо хоногт дерби тоглолтод хожигдсон болон 15 настай авьяаслаг тоглогч ЖЖ Габриэль багаас явах хүсэлт гаргасан зэрэг асуудлууд хүндрэл учруулж байна. Одоо Манчестер Юнайтед ирэх ням гарагт Премьер лигийн хүрээнд Фулхэмтэй хийх тоглолтод анхаарлаа хандуулах шаардлагатай боллоо.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
A difficult few days for Manchester United only got worse on Wednesday as they let a two-goal lead slip and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton at Old Trafford.
After a week dominated by a derby defeat to a controversial goal and the news of promising 15-year-old JJ Gabriel asking to leave the club, Michael Carrick and his side can now add losing a home game after being 2-0 up at half-time for the first time since 2013-14.
It all started so well as Shea Lacey scored on his first start after eight minutes before Mason Mount doubled the lead. However, Brighton got into the game and were the more threatening throughout as United continued to make errors as Charalampos Kostoulas pulled one back before half-time.
In the second half, United’s defensive sloppiness only got worse and led to Brighton adding a second and third in almost comical fashion, gifting goals to Maxim De Cuyper and Pascal Gross in a five-minute spell. It was Brighton who looked most threatening even after United brought on their big guns, such as Bruno Fernandes, to no avail.
Chris McKenna and Conor O’Neill break down the talking points from Old Trafford.
How bad a defeat was this for Michael Carrick?
After losing at Hull City on the opening weekend of the season, Carrick said it was “only one game”. Not anymore. That’s three defeats already this season and they’ve only played six games.
The United head coach is probably going to be judged on their league position rather than League Cup success, but this was a terrible moment for him.
After just one win in four league games (their other victory came against Champions League minnows Sabah), there needed to be a performance here to quell the pressure starting to build. This will certainly not.
Not just because of the defeat but the manner of it. They were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes and cruising but lost all control of the game from midway through the first half and never regained it.
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
United were poor in and out of possession in midfield while their defence appeared almost in a constant state of panic.
Carrick’s substitutes here failed to address either and now they are out of the first domestic cup competition of the season after an almighty collapse.
The players deserve plenty of blame, though. So many individual mistakes litter their six games so far this season.
There were times in the second half when audible boos were heard and plenty of groans inside Old Trafford.
If they do not get a positive result against Fulham on Sunday in the Premier League, then it will be a very long international break for the United head coach.
Chris McKenna
Why did United struggle to keep the ball at the back?
After their bright, purposeful start, it was natural that United relaxed a little after taking a two-goal lead. But that drop in intensity quickly veered into carelessness, with the defence failing to assert its composure amid loose passes and hapless communication mix-ups.
Brighton won possession eight times in United’s final third before half-time, the most by an opponent in a first half since Fulham in November 2022. Brighton are renowned for their intense pressing, and they struggled to bypass it, completing a season-low 80 per cent of their passes in the first period.
Carrick started with two young centre-backs in Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven, and the pair looked nervous against their opponents’ physicality.
Even allowing for Brighton’s pressure, there were moments of outright sloppiness. Heaven fell over under minimal contact to try and buy a free-kick on his own byline, while Yoro tried clipped, risky passes that rarely came off.
Yoro and Heaven started in defence (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
Yoro and Heaven were flanked by the more experienced Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, but their presence did little to bring calm to a defence that looked disjointed and nervous. Brighton frequently found joy down the flanks, with the goal coming from a switch of play to Kostoulas that Mazraoui failed to track.
For Brighton’s equaliser, United played around the Brighton defence, only for Dalot to hoof the ball into the middle of the pitch, forcing centre-forward Benjamin Sesko to head back towards his own goal under pressure. His header went straight to Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross in acres of space, with Yoro and Heaven spread miles apart.
Conor O’Neill
How positive was Shea Lacey’s first start for United?
After the drama of the Gabriel revelation this week, the scorer of the opener could have been predicted. Academy graduate Lacey, 19, became the first teenager to score on their first start for United since 18-year-old Marcus Rashford against FC Midtjylland in February 2016.
His goal in the eighth minute was impressive.
When it returned to Lacey on the right, he came inside with a clever sidestep to beat the defender and then reversed the shot into the bottom right corner when going for the left side seemed the more obvious choice. A nice bit of ingenuity.
Lacey had other good moments, an early run down the right stretched Brighton while he was able to draw a foul in a dangerous area while also made five defence contributions and cleared a ball in his own area after some hesitant United defending.
He was one of the few standout performers with United’s youthful centre-back pairing of Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven struggling.
Chris McKenna
What did Carrick say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for United?
Sunday, September 20: Fulham (Away), Premier League, 4.30pm BST, 11.30am ET
