Slow, porous, ponderous — Man United are in crisis again

It started off in a blaze of glory.

Manchester United began their third-round clash in the Carabao Cup against Brighton & Hove Albion with venom and purpose. Within ten minutes, the Red Devils were 2–0 up, with goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount showing that the players were out to give a fitting riposte after their disappointing loss in the Manchester Derby on Sunday.

But that was as good as it got for Michael Carrick’s men. From thereon, they were outmatched and overrun, as one error after another allowed Brighton to slowly and steadily come back into the game and ultimately emerge 3–2 winners at full-time.

This defeat at the hands of the Seagulls means that Man United have now been eliminated from the third round of the League Cup for two seasons running.

The big challenge for United and Carrick was to make sure they learned their lessons from previous games and continued to put their foot on the opposition’s throats after pegging them back. By scoring the second goal quickly, it felt like they were doing just that. But then, all too predictably, they just fell flat.

Normally, a team who are 2–0 up this early in the game almost inevitably grow in stature and try to score as many as possible to put the result beyond doubt. United, though, got as ponderous as they could get. After Marcus Rashford ballooned a free kick well over in the 12th minute, they did not manufacture a single shot until the end of the half. This was in stark contrast to Brighton, who had six shots and eventually got a goal back at the end of the first half.

After going 2–0 up, with every passing minute United’s defence looked shaky and porous. And with the way Brighton have been playing this season, even their second-string side could smell blood and went for the kill. Pascal Groß and Malick Yalcouyé had very presentable opportunities courtesy of the openness of United’s backline. With the score 2–1 at half-time, the red flags were clear and obvious for United to get their act together in the second half.

Instead, they kept on making the same mistakes in the second 45 as well and were ruthlessly punished by Fabian Hürzeler’s side, going from 2–1 up to 3–2 down in the space of four minutes. From thereon, it looked like there was going to be only one winner, and it would not be the men in red.

Suffice it to say, the crowd did not like what they were seeing one bit. Every mistake was met by groans of frustration, and at the final whistle boos greeted the squad, with chants of “what the f*****g hell was that?” reverberating around Old Trafford.

This game was a good opportunity to bring back lost morale and confidence ahead of a long international break, but with the door to one domestic trophy shut on United at the very first hurdle, the mood around the club has become bleaker.

After a shocking loss to Hull City in the opening game, Carrick had spoken about how it was just one game, and that results would pick up. Since those words, United have gone on to lose two of their next five games, only managing wins against newly promoted Ipswich Town and Champions League newcomers and comparative minnows Sabah. 

In every defeat, the manner has been painfully obvious: United have been slow, their defence has been porous and capable of conceding multiple goals, the attacking phases of play have been ponderous, and they cannot control the game when they are on top (the 2–2 draw against Everton being another case in point).

This game was supposed to be a celebration of a highly rated youth prospect getting his first-ever competitive goal in front of his home crowd, family, and friends. Instead, it became an embarrassing capitulation that handed United a first loss at home after leading at half-time in five decades.

Michael Carrick has brought in a lot of highs in the last eight months as Man United head coach. This is now the lowest the club has been in his tenure. The onus is now on him to uplift a seemingly bereft and incompetent squad to something resembling fluency. And he has to do it fast.