Man United: Jose Mourinho tactics cause more concern

There were still 10 minutes to go until half-time when Jose Mourinho swivelled around on the touchline and motioned for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to get warmed up.

Was the Manchester United manager really thinking about bringing on the veteran striker or just sending a message to the rest of the team?

Either way, Mourinho was clearly growing impatient of watching United labouring to break down Brighton in the pouring rain at Old Trafford.

Twenty-four hours earlier he had sat at Carrington and defended his team’s tactics this season. 

‘I don’t know who is more ambitious than us,’ asked Mourinho. ‘We played against Newcastle (last week) with Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Mata and Lukaku. Valencia and Young are wingers not full-backs. So I don’t know what you want.’

At times, United’s ambition has been questioned. But this wasn’t about ambition, it was about execution. It was about having the pace, penetration and guile to find a way past Brighton. And United were lacking in every department.

All of those attacking players mentioned by Mourinho started again here, but the spark just wasn’t there. Too pedestrian, too predictable. At times it was like a throwback to the Louis van Gaal era.

When the breakthrough was finally made, it came from a fiercely disputed corner and a deflected effort from Ashley Young that looped up freakishly over Matthew Ryan and into the Brighton net.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was brought on with 28 minutes remaining and the score still at 0-0

Ashley Young, United’s best player on the day, broke the deadlock with a deflected shot

The Brighton keeper hardly had another save of note to make. The visitors arguably had the better chances, happy to defend deep in numbers and try to hit United on the break.

On the 25th anniversary of his arrival at Old Trafford, Eric Cantona has been damning in his assessment of Mourinho’s appointment, and there was little here to knock down the Frenchman’s argument.

Cantona says he would rather have Pep Guardiola in charge, and right now there is little comparison between the fast, free-flowing football being served up by Manchester City and the rather dour fare on offer at Old Trafford. It is even more surprising when you consider the calibre of players at Mourinho’s disposal.

At one point in the first half, Marcus Rashford wandered towards the corner flag after having a cross blocked and turned towards his teammates with a shrug. The message was clear. Where were the options? What was he supposed to aim at? Brighton were soaking up the pressure with some degree of comfort and United’s attackers were far too static.

Mourinho gesticulated on the touchline but the negative tactics deflated Old Trafford

Romelu Lukaku once again proved ineffective as Manchester United were neutralised

It was all rather flat. The lift United, and the majority of fans inside Old Trafford, needed came from the most unlikely source. Victor Lindelof’s crunching challenge on Anthony Knockaert got both sets of players and the United supporters fired up. It raised the noise levels around the ground, and minutes later Mourinho’s side were ahead through their best player, Young.

It still couldn’t paper over a limp performance with Brighton as likely to score an equaliser as United were to scoring a second.

Ibrahimovic, who had to wait until the 62nd minute to replace the ineffective Juan Mata, definitely made a difference but the Swede is still making his way back from a career-threatening knee injury and, at 36, can only be expected to do so much.

He was flattened by a naughty challenge from Shane Duffy and had one of United’ s best efforts, a first-time shot past the post after a lovely exchange with Pogba. 

It was one of the few occasions that United moved the ball quickly and incisively all afternoon, and they needed to do so much more.

Mourinho will point to 10 wins out of 10 at home in all competitions. He will hope that United have put pressure on City whose lead at the top is now down to five points. But with Watford and Arsenal to follow in the next eight days, they badly need to click into gear.

The dark cloud that hung over Old Trafford was indicative of the mood from the home fans