Manchester United suffered their sixth home defeat of the Premier League season on Sunday at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Yankuba Minteh fired the visitors in front early on, but a Bruno Fernandes penalty midway through the first half looked to have provided the platform United needed to go on and secure all three points.
However, a chaotic second half saw Kaoru Mitoma hit the back post, before a big mistake from goalkeeper Andre Onana gifted Georginio Rutter a third in an eventful 3-1 win.
How the game played out
It took just four minutes for Brighton to open the scoring. Carlos Baleba's wonderful long ball over the top sent Kaoru Mitoma through on goal and the Japanese unselfishly set up for Minteh to tap into an open goal.
United quickly took control of possession and the likes of Amad Diallo and Diogo Dalot had some dangerous moments on the wings, before Bruno Fernandes struck from outside the penalty area.
Two penalties came and went before United were finally awarded a spot-kick in the third stoppage time. Brighton were caught by the home press and Baleba ended up dragging Joshua Zirkzee to the ground and Fernandes made no mistake from 12 yards to tie things up deservedly.
Amad looked like making it two when he rounded Bart Verbruggen, but the young striker narrowly narrowed the corner for himself and could not put United in front at the break.
As they did in the first half, Brighton found the net early in the second half. A bit of pinball in the penalty box saw the ball fall to the feet of the lucky Joao Pedro who, realizing what was really going on, flicked the ball past the advancing Andre Onana. VAR reviewed the footage and noted Jan Paul van Hecke's foul on Dalot, which saw the goal disallowed.
However, there was to be no saving United on the hour mark. Minteh's cross landed right at the back post, where Mitoma had to stretch to hit the back of the net.
Rutter was given the chance to score the third goal with 15 minutes to go after a big mistake from Onana. The United keeper somehow spilled a routine cross into the box and the Brighton substitute could hardly believe his luck as he fired into the empty net.
Check out the player ratings from Man Utd 1-3 Brighton here.
united were good in the first half and responded well to the first hurdle, but once Brighton really struggled to control proceedings in the second half, the Red Devils clearly lost focus.
They were lucky to pull back on Joao Pedro's disallowed goal, but Brighton kept coming and made their momentum count when Mitoma headed in at the back post to restore the Seagulls' lead.
Things became slow and predictable for United as they became too easy to play against, before Onana's mistake ended any hopes of a revival of optimism. Ruben Amorim must find a solution to this mentality issue.
Deployed as an attacking midfielder here, Amad still tried to do as much as possible to help the team and his defensive work caught the eye as much as anything he did with the ball at his feet.
It was his high press that led to the penalty, before which he had seen two of his screamers go wide and there were moments in which Amad could be found helping his full-back at the other end of the pitch.
Going forward, Amad was his lively self. He caused plenty of problems down the right wing and looked as likely as anyone in the Reds to find the net from open play.
There was simply no need for United to concede a third here. The cross on Onana was slow, tame, and the kind of thing he had to catch with his eyes closed, and yet it somehow poured him into the worst position imaginable.
Mistakes are part of football – of course they are – but this has been too much of a habit from Onana during his time in England and United are unable to trust a goalkeeper capable of such chaotic moments.
Expect to see a goalkeeper added to the tRANSFER 2025 wish list. There's only so much of this Amorim will be able to take.
Few who have watched Baleba have questioned his ability with the ball. That was clear here from the first minute, with his delightful long ball that Mitoma put behind to open the scoring. Sensational stuff indeed.
However, what the young midfielder needs to work on is his concentration and composure. His willingness to give away penalties saw him clothesline Zirkzee to concede the penalty from which United equalised. One of those times he just has to swing off his game.
To his credit, Baleba then rose to the challenge to drag his side back into the lead. His recovery of the ball was magnificent and United just couldn't keep up. He looks technically ready for a big move, but could probably benefit from a bit more time to develop his mentality at Brighton.