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The chilling reality is Manchester United have yet to hit rock bottom

Bruno Fernandes, left, and Harry Maguire look downcast after Brighton's third goal
The body language of Bruno Fernandes (left) and Harry Maguire says it all as Manchester United are humiliated by Brighton - AP/Dave Thompson

Manchester United were still known as Newton Heath and playing in only their second season in the Football League the last time they started a league campaign this badly at home. That was the 1893-94 season, 131 years ago, when they drew average crowds of just 8,000 at Bank Street, in Clayton, not far from where the Etihad Stadium now resides.

James West was the team’s manager back then, even if he went by the title of full-time secretary, and he could scarcely have imagined how big the club would one day become. By the same token, the United fans who stuck around long enough to boo off their side against Brighton, probably cannot believe just how far their club have fallen and the chilling reality is they have probably yet to hit rock bottom this term.

United are historically bad: the statistics support it and their manager, Ruben Amorim, sees and feels it and has no desire to mask the cold, hard truth. United, he says, need to first own their ineptitude and then do something about it.

“We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United,” the head coach said. “I know you want headlines but I am saying that because we have to acknowledge that and to change that. Here you go: your headlines.”

Ruben Amorim holds out his arms in exasperation
Ruben Amorim cannot hide his frustration as United crumble again - Getty Images/Dave Howarth

This was United’s sixth defeat in 12 Premier League outings at Old Trafford, four of which have come since Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag in early November, and their 10th league loss to date of a campaign that their Portuguese coach still fears could become a genuine fight against relegation.

They have a 10-point buffer to the drop zone for now but carry on this way and things could get a lot stickier, even if it is hard to look beyond four, maybe five other teams as clear candidates to go down at this stage.

United defeats should barely register as a surprise any more, even less so at home where they so often look petrified and paralysed, but there is always going to be a layer of intrigue around how a team assembled at such exorbitant cost could continue to plumb such depths. The starting XI that began against Brighton cost £440 million and again left you wondering how so much could have been spent for so little in return.

Amorim has talked about the challenges of trying to change to a new system in mid-season with little time to work on the training ground, especially when the team is struggling so much and so many players are devoid of confidence and scared.

But Brighton’s first goal was not about formations or tactics or anything like that, it was about one player switching off and failing completely to anticipate an obvious threat and summed up where United are at this moment.

Amorim even said United had discussed that very thing before the game but Noussair Mazraoui was asleep when Carlos Baleba pumped the ball over the top and in behind for Kaoru Mitoma to bear down on goal and square for Yankuba Minteh to score. Brighton could not have imagined it would be that easy. It was the fifth successive home game in which United have conceded first and the third time they had done so within the opening five minutes. It was unforgivable and set the tone for an afternoon that had begun movingly with Old Trafford coming together before kick-off to pay an emotional farewell to their late, great former striker Denis Law, who died on Friday aged 84.

Yankuba Minteh scores past Andre Onana
Yankuba Minteh fires Brighton in front - Getty Images/Stu Forster

Brighton, who came into this with just one league win in their previous nine, just love playing United, who failed to register a shot on target from open play at home for the first time for nine years. This was their third consecutive victory at Old Trafford (all under different managers) and their sixth win in the last seven league meetings between the clubs who, in the way they are run and have recruited over recent years, could not be more diametrically opposed.

Bruno Fernandes’s penalty briefly gave United some hope but the reality is Brighton were better all over the pitch, their work-rate and quality typified by the forward pairing of United old boy Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro.

Baleba – who is proving quite the replacement for Moisés Caicedo – and the equally impressive Yasin Ayari ran the midfield and Mitoma and Minteh excelled out wide.

Carlos Baleba dribbles past Noussair Mazraoui
Carlos Baleba was too much for United’s midfield - Getty Images/Ian Hodgson

Baleba’s power and physicality overwhelmed United while Ayari’s clever runs and movements wreaked havoc all afternoon. Signed from Swedish club AIK in 2023, Ayari was central to Brighton’s second and third goals. For the first of those, he nimbly evaded Manuel Ugarte – who had a risible game – and drove forward 40 yards through the middle before finding Minteh.

Ugarte was booked for a poor late challenge on Ayari just as the Brighton midfielder released the ball. Minteh’s inswinging cross was a peach but there was no pressure at all from Diogo Dalot to stop it and Mitoma was the first to reach at the far post, before Mazraoui, to stab home.

Brighton’s third was another dreadful blunder by André Onana but it was fashioned again by Ayari’s quick thinking and movement as United were again given a vivid illustration of what patterns of play look like.

Onana with head in hands
United goalkeeper André Onana had another game to forget - Reuters/Lee Smith

Ayari beat the offside trap with a perfectly timed dart to run on to Solly March’s quick pass from Jan Paul van Hecke’s ball wide. His cross should have been easily smothered by Onana but he spilled the ball diving down to catch it, allowing substitute Georginio Rutter to turn and finish into an empty net.

It was the Cameroon goalkeeper’s seventh error leading to a goal since he joined United 18 months ago, four of which have come in the last six weeks under Amorim.

United only beat Southampton on Thursday because Onana had given them the platform to do so with a string of superb saves but this was the goalkeeper at his erratic, error-prone worst again. It was also the cue for many fans to exit.

What a mess.