Man United player accused of ‘hiding’ as they suffer 50-year low with damning Carabao Cup collapse

Diogo Dalot has been accused of 'hiding' during Manchester United's Carabao Cup collapse against Brighton in an 'awful' team display.

The Red Devils' difficult start to the season went from bad to worse on Wednesday night as they suffered an embarrassing League Cup exit by squandering a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Old Trafford.

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After a demoralising defeat in Sunday's Manchester derby against a ten-man Manchester City, Michael Carrick's side were in need of a morale-boosting win.

And they made the perfect start as Shea Lacey and Mason Mount put them 2-0 up in the first 10 minutes.

But United were unable to build on their early dominance, and Charalampos Kostoulas took advantage of a Karl Darlow error to pull one back just before the break.

The game turned on its head in the second half, as goals from Pascal Grosz and Maxim De Cuyper saw Brighton take a 3-2 lead.

Unable to find an equaliser in the final 20 minutes, this condemned United to a third-round cup exit as they slumped to a 50-year low.

The capitulation was the first time since 1976 that a Red Devils team has lost a game at Old Trafford after going 2-0 up.

It piles even more pressure on manager Carrick, whose side have lost three of their first six games of the season, as well as suffering defeat in their opening domestic cup game for the third time in a row.

Dalot bears the brunt

After Man United's dismal cup exit saw their players booed off the pitch at full-time, former England defender Micky Gray singled out the performance of right-back Dalot for criticism.

Reacting to the result live on talkSPORT, Gray said: “Diogo Dalot tonight, I really felt for him. 

“At times it just didn't happen for him. You could see him starting to hide. He was shirking away from just taking hold of the ball, maybe grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.

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“But nobody wanted it tonight at all, you could just see it. There were shrinking violets. It was awful to watch."

Dalot looked a weak link in the Brighton clash, as he struggled to contain the pace of Malick Yalcouye.

The Seagulls' attacker regularly managed to run in behind the Portuguese full-back, who has endured a difficult few days after also being far from his best against Man City.

His performance in Sunday's derby also came in for criticism, with United legend Wayne Rooney questioning his ability.

Discussing the defeat on the 'Stick to United' podcast, he said: "Full-backs in the modern game have to be and have to have energy.

"And I think Dalot is fit enough but lacks the quality."

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Dalot moved to Old Trafford from Porto in 2018, and has gone on to became a mainstay in the starting XI, making 251 appearances for the club.

He has featured in five of Man United's first six games of the season, starting in their 5-2 victory over Ipswich as well as a 2-2 draw against Everton and their latest two defeats to Man City and Brighton.

Carrick: We have to be better

With the pressure piling on Michael Carrick following United's crushing Carabao Cup exit, he admitted his side must respond quickly.

In his first full season as permanent boss, the Englishman has overseen just two wins so far - against Sabah in the Champions League and Ipswich - in a shock turn of events after securing a third-place league finish last season.

Carrick to Sky on the game: “The start of the game and the end of the game was completely different. It didn’t feel like the same game and certainly not the same emotions at all.

“We had the game exactly where we wanted it but we let it get away from us in a big way. That’s the story of the game.

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“There’s a number of things that we’ll look and dissect and I know quite a bit of where it went wrong.

“We can’t accept that and I take responsibility for it. The performance towards the end of the second half is on me.

“We’ll all be better. We all have to get better for a big game we have on Sunday that we need to prepare for.

“We’re out of this competition and we need to get back to winning football matches because it doesn’t feel good, let me tell you. But if we’re to get back to winning football matches we need to do a lot of things better.”