Man Utd fans turn on Carrick's side as Brighton defeat piles pressure on boss

THE mood inside Old Trafford turned as quickly as the score line.

At the final whistle, there was a chorus of boos as the Manchester United faithful turned on the players. And if Michael Carrick was not under pressure before, the United boss is certainly feeling the heat now.

This was unforgivable. A lame, meek surrender as United threw away a two-goal lead with some kamikaze defending and unforgivable play.

Incredibly, this was the first time United had blown a two-goal lead in 146 matches and they find themselves out of another domestic cup competition. Again.

Last season, United went out at the first hurdle in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup (the latter to Brighton) and endured the shortest season in the club’s history.

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It did, however, allow Carrick to turn the club’s fortunes around, guide them back into the Champions League and got the job as a result.

But, after a sloppy start to the Premier League campaign - including the Manchester derby to City on Sunday - and now an early cup exit maybe this is proof they plumped too soon with a club legend.

Passion and history will get you so far but Carrick now looks to be struggling as they were hit by their Brighton curse again. That is five wins out of six trips to Old Trafford for the Seagulls.

And it was a pure gift for Fabian Hurzeler’s never-say-die heroes. What a win. But what a lame surrender and an awful week for United.

After teenage wonderkid JJ Gabriel, 15, told the club he wanted to leave, the script turned around when academy graduate Shea Leacey scored on his first start for the club. What a time to get your first goal with a lovely finish after just eight minutes.

It got even better two minutes later when Mason Mount made it 2-0 and surely not even a sloppy United could blow it from here. Don’t bet on it.

They did not put the game to bed and were sloppy in defence, the star-studded bench left them short on the pitch and Brighton refused to give up.

You could see Brighton grow in confidence while United began to drop deeper and leave themselves increasingly vulnerable.

They got their reward in first half injury time. Jaouen Hadjam’s diagonal ball split the United defence, Brighton striker Charalampos Kostoulas then fired low past keeper Karl Darlow and it was game-on.

United just did not do enough to put Brighton away. And Brighton just kept going. Diogo Dalot’s clearance was headed straight back by Luka Vuskovic and the ball fell for Pascal Gross.

Brighton forward Gross sidestepped Lenny Yoro, kept his nerve and then fired low past Darlow to level it up. United made it easy. Yoro was exposed that time but Ayden Heaven was so far out of his depth.

Brighton were still not done. Kostoulas broke down the right edge of the box, his pull back fell straight to Maxim De Cuyper and suddenly Brighton were in front.

You could hear the boos and frustration begin to ring round Old Trafford as Brighton had turned the game on its head and United were facing another cup nightmare.

Marcus Rashford went through but was denied by Steele. United threw on the big guns to try and salvage a terrible week. But they did not have enough guile, quality or determination to turn it around. Another early cup exit. Another nightmare for Carrick.

Suddenly United’s trip to Fulham on Sunday looks very big for Carrick. Especially as it comes just before the international break.