More than ever, Manchester United‘s past loomed large at Old Trafford on Sunday night. Sir Alex Ferguson sat alongside Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt in the directors’ box.
Caretaker coach Darren Fletcher taking charge in the dugout. There was talk of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and, who knows, maybe even Ruud van Nistelrooy vying with Fletcher to become interim boss until the end of this dismal season.
Amidst it all, there was no question which United old boy made the biggest impact here.
It’s nearly 12 years since Danny Welbeck left his hometown club to continue his career at Arsenal and Brighton.
He has been linked with a return to Old Trafford on several occasions, and no doubt would have been a better bet than most of the extortionately expensive strikers United have signed in the meantime.
At the age of 35, Welbeck is still in peak form, and he returned to haunt them once again by helping to set up Brighton’s first goal and then smashing in the decisive second to dump United out of the FA Cup. It was the Longsight-born player’s eighth goal against them since 2014.
Darren Fletcher’s Old Trafford bow saw Manchester United fall at the first hurdle in the FA Cup
His former team-mate, Danny Welbeck, scored the winner as Brighton beat United 2-1
Captain for the night, Welbeck was outstanding for an equally impressive Brighton side who won at Old Trafford for the fourth year in a row with their first-ever victory over United in this competition; one that will go some way towards burying the ghost of their 1983 Cup Final heartbreak and a shootout defeat in the semi-final at Wembley three years ago.
For United, the stats go back even further. It’s 44 years since the biggest club in English football last fell at the first hurdle of both domestic cup competitions, having been humiliated by League Two Grimsby in the Carabao Cup in August.
Already exiled from Europe for only the second time in 35 years, it means United will play fewer games this season than any campaign since the First World War.
‘The club’s not in a great moment, let’s be honest, going out the cups early, but there’s still a Champions League place to fight for,’ said Fletcher.
‘It’s probably not what fans want to hear about Manchester United, but that’s where we’re at.’
A night that started with Bruno Fernandes seeing stars ended with teenage substitute Shea Lacey seeing red on his Old Trafford debut.
Fernandes was left with a bloody nose when Lisandro Martinez’s shot hit him in the face in the warm-up, and perhaps we should have known then that Brighton were about to give United another one.
United’s afternoon started in rough fashion when Bruno Fernandes was smashed in the face by a ball during the warm-up
This was hardly a performance or result to persuade the Man United hierarchy that Fletcher is the person to take them forward
Lacey, meanwhile, will remember this night for all the wrong reasons. So promising off the bench when he hit the bar in Fletcher’s first game at Burnley in midweek, he got a rousing reception when he came on for the ineffective Mason Mount just after the hour mark, but departed 29 minutes later with his head buried in his shirt.
Already on a booking for a foul on Yasin Ayari, Lacey foolishly slammed the ball into the turf when he conceded another free kick for a challenge on Fredi Kadioglu and left referee Simon Hooper with little option but to show him a second yellow card.
It has been quite an eventful weekend for the Lacey family after elder brother Luis played in Macclesfield’s stunning victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Fletcher was also booked after the final whistle as he vented at the officials. This result will have hurt him regardless of the effect it has on his chances of staying in charge.
The 41-year-old has reverted to the 4-2-3-1 system favoured by Erik ten Hag but, like the Dutchman, lacks the midfield personnel to make it work. Kobbie Mainoo can be excused given that this was his first start since Grimsby and, incredibly his first at Old Trafford since May.
It will take time for Mainoo to get back up to speed, and he lasted just over an hour before being replaced by Joshua Zirkzee shortly after being booked.
A Brighton side playing fluidly despite making six changes from another 500-mile round trip to the Etihad just four days earlier, cut through United far too easily – especially down their left where Kadioglu was superb.
The first goal came from that flank after the Seagulls switched play from right to left in the 12th minute. Kadioglu fed Welbeck who got away from Mount far too easily and clipped a cross to the edge of the six-yard box.
Georginio Rutter was completely unmarked to meet it with a firm header and Martinez blocked the ball on the line but only scuffed his clearance as far as Brajan Gruda who buried his shot.
Senne Lammens almost gifted Brighton another two minutes later with what was his arguably his first blunder since signing from Antwerp in the summer.
18-year-old Shea Lacey was sent off late on after a showing of dissent saw him receive a second yellow card
United were, ultimately, dumped out of another cup competition at the fist attempt – thanks to their former forward Danny Welbeck
Receiving a back-pass from Leny Yoro, the Belgian keeper tried to play the ball out from the back but gave it straight to Welbeck and got just enough on his shot to prevent a calamitous goal.
It may have been a different story had Diogo Dalot managed to beat Jason Steele when he was clean through in the opening seconds, but Brighton got the second goal their performance deserved in the 64th minute.
Patrick Dorgu didn’t get tight enough on Gruda and Yoro was equally guilty of giving Welbeck time and space when he received a pass from the German, taking one touch before blasting an unstoppable shot past Lammens.
‘I think to describe him best is to say that he is a role model on the pitch and beside it a great connector,’ said Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler. ‘He missed a big chance but great goal scorers never give up, they are always ready.’
United pulled a goal back in the 85th minute when Benjamin Sesko rose to guide a header inside the near post from Fernandes’ corner for his third goal of the week.
Fletcher deserves credit for reviving the misfiring Slovenia striker, but the good news ends there.
