MANCHESTER — Manchester United surrendered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton in the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford, crashing out at the first hurdle in historic fashion and ramping up pressure on head coach Michael Carrick. It is the first time in 145 attempts that United have held a two-goal lead at Old Trafford and lost.
"We've gone out of the cup and the feeling around the place feels bigger than that," Carrick said. "I'm happy enough to be honest about that. That's how it feels." The defeat also marked the first time in 50 years an opposition team has won at Old Trafford after trailing 2-0, and the first time United have lost at home after holding a half-time lead in 551 such leads — the previous instance coming in 1984, before Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure.
Pascal Gross scored the equaliser for Brighton, four years after netting twice at Old Trafford in August 2022 to put Erik ten Hag on the back foot. Now 35, the German has since secured European football with Brighton, left for Borussia Dortmund, rejoined the Seagulls and returned them to Europe — a span of 1,502 days in which United spent £365m on seven new central midfielders and still were second best in midfield. Around £140m of that investment started against Brighton in Youri Tielemans, Mason Mount and Andrey Santos, while £70m signing Carlos Baleba watched from the stands as his former club beat his new one. "They didn't look fit enough," said Jamie Redknapp. "I don't know if a lot of them do enough. I saw too many players not running back or not looking fit enough."
Carrick made nine changes, with many players returning after weeks on the Premier League bench, but Brighton made six changes including first starts for four summer signings. The lack of defensive investment was exposed through Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven. "The inexperience of the two young centre-backs definitely showed," Redknapp said. "The pair of them were just inept in everything they did." He contrasted them with Brighton's 18-year-old Luka Vuskovic, who showed "aggression, winning challenges, recovery runs." Vuskovic won a header ahead of Benjamin Sesko to launch the second goal, with Heaven caught on his heels and Yoro failing to block Gross's finish. "He doesn't anticipate the danger. Sprint, get to the penalty spot. But he's jogging," Redknapp said. "And Yoro, what kind of an effort is that to stop the shot?" For Brighton's third, Yoro was again caught jogging back on the break. "You've got to sprint Leny," Redknapp added. "He's jogging. If he sprints, he gets back and makes that block."
The result leaves United with a joint-worst start to a Premier League season after four games, their only win a 5-2 victory over Ipswich in which they struggled for the best part of an hour. Mitigating factors such as long-range goals at Everton and a contentious Manchester derby winner have not masked the pattern, which echoes Ruben Amorim's Carabao Cup defeat at Grimsby last year and an FA Cup loss to Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton that preceded Carrick's return and brief revival. United now face winless Fulham away at Craven Cottage on Super Sunday under Alvaro Arbeloa, before a three-week international break often used for managerial changes.