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Man United humbled again in 4-0 loss at Brighton in EPL

Published:Sunday | May 8, 2022 | 12:09 AM
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Leandro Trossard (centre right) celebrates scoring their side’s third goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United at the AMEX Stadium, Brighton, Englan
AP
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Leandro Trossard (centre right) celebrates scoring their side’s third goal of the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United at the AMEX Stadium, Brighton, England, yesterday.

BRIGHTON, England (AP):

MANCHESTER UNITED must want this season to end now.

Make that five straight away losses for United in the English Premier League (EPL) after a chastening 4-0 thrashing by Brighton on Saturday.

“It was a terrible performance,” United manager Ralf Rangnick said.

With just one game left this season – at Crystal Palace in two weeks – United have little to play for in a fifth straight season without a trophy. The team is already assured of fisnishing with its fewest points since 1991 – two seasons before the Premier League era was launched.

If Erik ten Hag needed a reminder of the mess he is inheriting when the current Ajax coach takes over at Old Trafford in the offseason, it was this embarrassing performance at Amex Stadium.

Moises Caicedo and Marc Cucurella scored their first goals in English soccer – Cucurella was reduced to tears after slamming home his shot in the 49th – before close-range finishes by Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard by the hour mark.

HUMILIATING DEFEAT

“From the first until the last minute, it was not enough,” Rangnick said. “We can only apologise for this performance and a humiliating defeat.

“We were never in a position where we could stop them playing through our lines. We told the players to be as compact as they could but we couldn’t stop it.”

In United’s previous four away games in the league, they lost at Arsenal 3-1, at Liverpool 4-0, at Everton 1-0 and at Manchester City 4-1.

United are in sixth place, five points behind fourth-place Arsenal, and cannot finish in the Champions League qualification spots.