Bruno Fernandes was the only Manchester United player who deserved to escape the anger from supporters after their defeat by Brighton, according to Dion Dublin.
United slipped to their 10th defeat from 22 Premier League games on Sunday afternoon as Brighton left Old Trafford with a comfortable 3-1 win. Goals from Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter gave the Seagulls their third straight Premier League win at Old Trafford and underlined just how poor United are right now.
Fernandes’ penalty after Joshua Zirkzee was fouled by Carlos Baleba was United’s sole shot on target and Andre Onana’s mistake for Rutter’s goal left a sour taste for the home fans. Ruben Amorim has taken just 11 points from 11 league games since taking over from Erik ten Hag in November and has failed to turn things around.
United have now suffered their six home league defeats this season – the most from their opening 12 home matches since way back in 1893/94. It was a miserable picture after the full-time whistle on Sunday – and former United striker Dublin only absolved one player of the blame.
“I don’t think they (the fans) believed Man United from what I could see,” Dublin said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “ Bruno Fernandes is trying to do everything on his own. The quality I was seeing in the red shirts wasn’t enough. Brighton were good and energetic – they were physically better. Brighton deserved to win the game.
“The games I have seen there’s 10 minute stints where you think ‘here we go’. Bruno Fernandes, I have got to give him his due – he is trying his hardest and he is everywhere. Brighton seem to know what they’re doing whereas United are very disjointed – it was pretty quiet in here.”
Fernandes faced the media as United captain and tried to issue a rallying cry to his team-mates. “A very disappointing day, a very disappointing afternoon for us. It’s not the performance that we wanted,” he told Sky Sports.
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“For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s home or away: a defeat at Manchester United is always bad. We have had too many already this season. I don’t think it was comfortable for them. But we lacked braveness and a bit of belief on turning the result on our side again.
“We did it against Southampton with eight or 10 minutes to go, we should have done it today at least, believe a little bit more and have a bit more braveness and not tire ourselves from the responsibility.”
United sit 13th in the Premier League, closer to the relegation zone than to the top four places. They will try to bounce back against Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday before a trip to take on in-form Fulham next Sunday.
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