Manchester United continued their recent momentum by defeating Brighton at Old Trafford, scoring their first goal for the club in an exciting and somewhat controversial 4-2 victory.
Ruben Amorim’s side appear to have had a contrasting fate, having had a particularly productive season recently after a difficult start to the season, with three wins on the spin propelling them into the top four, at least temporarily.
Manchester United had lost six of their last seven games against Brighton and were at times riding their luck in the first half, but it took a wasteful finish from Danny Welbeck to pave the way for two goals from Cunha and Casemiro in 10 minutes. The opening match was spectacular, but the second match was even more fortunate after a severe deflection.
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Matheus Cunha curled the ball and slotted it in at the far post to score his first goal for Man United.
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Casemiro’s shot from the edge of the box deflected wide to Yassine Ayari.
Bruno Fernandes should have scored the three before Brian Mbeumo, despite Luke Shaw committing a clear foul on Georginio Rutter in the previous phase. And that wasn’t the only thing under scrutiny that night.
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Replays showed Luke Shaw pulling Georginio Luther’s shirt, but VAR ruled it was not enough to overturn Brian Mbeumo’s goal.
Neither referee Anthony Taylor nor VAR awarded a penalty to Amad after he was tipped over by Maxim de Kuiper in the first half, as the defender appeared to have ‘played the ball’, and Patrick Dorg was only given a yellow for a last-minute foul on Yankuba Minte – although the forward probably lost control of the ball when the final whistle blew.
The drama didn’t end there. Welbeck recently showed his presence by scoring a free-kick past Senne Lamence to keep a clean sheet in two consecutive games. Sharalampos Kostoulas then came off the bench to end what seemed to be an unnecessarily tense match.
But Mbeumo had other ideas and capped off a frenzied finale with a strong finish into the net in the 96th minute. Gary Neville praised Amorim for his “best and most important week at work”.
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Brian Mbeumo scored a powerful attack in stoppage time to make it 4-2 for Manchester United against Brighton.
Best week at work for Amorim
Gary Neville on Sky Sports at Old Trafford:
“The story of this game was that after what happened at Anfield last week, Manchester United couldn’t take a step back and today’s win was absolutely vital.
“I think it was the best and most important week in the job for Ruben Amorim. It gave him some time.
“I’m not saying he’s out of danger, but Manchester United are moving towards the top of the league and that certainly puts a lot of pressure on him.”
Haseler: Their goal was a gift.
Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler:
“It’s easy to sum up. Too many easy mistakes. We gave the ball away too easily. We can’t win the game like this. We had control and good action, always creating danger, but in the end it was an easy mistake. (The goals) are like four presents.”
“United pressed well, but we have to get the small margins right. We weren’t at our best level and we made mistakes. When we were in the system we didn’t give many chances, but it was just a mistake. We decided the game would end in a negative way. We didn’t execute well enough.”
Commenting on the difference in Manchester United’s threat between last year and now, Haseler said: “We’re a much more intense, compact, defensive forward. The individual quality has improved even more. The money is well invested.”
Regarding the referee’s performance, he added, “I will never hold the referee responsible for our loss. We have to improve. We can’t afford to lose the ball so easily.”
