Owen Hargreaves makes worrying Man Utd claim after 'dreadful' Brighton defeat

Today at 12:02 PM

Owen Hargreaves made a series of damning claims about Manchester United after their ‘dreadful’ Premier League defeat to Brighton.

United suffered their fourth defeat in five league home games on Sunday, Brighton outplaying Ruben Amorim’s side at Old Trafford and travelling back south with a 3-1 win.

Brighton took the lead after just five minutes, Yankuba Minteh turning home Kauro Mitoma’s pass as United’s defensive fragility was once again exposed.

Manchester United were gifted a way back into the game when they were awarded a penalty midway through the first half and Bruno Fernandes duly obliged, the Portuguese continuing his impressive form despite the team’s struggles.

But Brighton retook the lead after half-time through Mitoma before a howler from goalkeeper Andre Onana allowed Georginio Rutter to add Brighton’s third.

Manchester United have now lost four of their last six league matches and sit 13th in the Premier League table, closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places.

Hargreaves described United’s performance as ‘dreadful’ and said his former club have ‘so many problems it’s crazy’.

The ex-England midfielder fears Amorim’s style of player ‘does not suit’ his squad and says six of Brighton’s team would start for the beleaguered Premier League giants.

‘Dreadful, just dreadful, honestly,’ Hargreaves told Premier League Productions.

‘We saw it against Southampton, who were brilliant and probably deserved something from the game. They're just so easy to play against.

‘Defensively, the goalkeeper, struggling to score goals, United have so many problems it's crazy. They are late to everything. Ruben Amorim even said that after the Southampton game, they're so reactive.

‘They never looked like scoring. They scored from a penalty, that was it. Brighton scored three and had numerous other chances.

‘The worry for Amorim is the style of play doesn't suit the players don't right, he's got to find a way to get results. I don't think it's an attitude thing or an effort thing.

‘The recruitment has been a huge issue in recent years. Look at the Brighton team, they had six players who would start for Man United.

‘That should never happen, never. With the utmost respect to Brighton, they shouldn't have any players who would get in the United team, they shouldn't have any that would get in the 18. Six of them would start.

‘It goes back to recruitment. United need to get it right going forward. They need to be better in the market because it's not been working for a while now.’

While Manchester United suffered another disappointing result, Brighton climbed into the top-half of the Premier League and extended their unbeaten run to seven games.

‘We are happy with three points today,’ Brighton goalscorer Rutter said.

‘It’s good fans here [at Old Trafford], it’s hard to play here but today we stayed calm and played with confidence.

‘I’m very happy but it’s about the team, they help me to score every week. It can be hard when a new player comes and you’re expected to score straight away but they have been patient with me.

‘The season is long and we have to keep going like this, taking it game by game and we’ll see at the end [about qualifying for Europe].’

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