United's season of embarrassment sinks to new low

Manchester United must want this season to end now.

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

United interim manager Ralf Rangnick apologized for the "humiliating" defeat which ensured the visitor will finish the season with its worst points total in the Premier League era.

United's losses have piled up and this abysmal display was among the very worst.

Rangnick's side was routed by goals from Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard at the Amex Stadium.

After 5-0 and 4-0 defeats against archrival Liverpool, a 4-1 loss at Watford that saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fired in November and an FA Cup exit at home to second-tier Middlesbrough, it seemed impossible for United to fall any further.

But it was so gutless and hopeless on the south coast against the Seagulls that even United's traveling fans turned on their team.

Sixth-placed United cannot finish in the Premier League's top four and is certain to miss out on the Champions League for only the fifth time in 30 seasons.

"It was a terrible performance. From the first until the last minute, it was not enough. We can only apologize for this performance and a humiliating defeat," Rangnick said.

"We just gave too much time and space. We were never in a position where we could stop them playing through our lines. We told the players be as compact as they could but we couldn't stop it."

With 58 points and only one game left, United's fifth successive away defeat means it will finish with its lowest points total in the Premier League era.

It would be no surprise if Erik ten Hag, the Ajax boss who has agreed to take charge from next season, was having second thoughts about his decision to accept the task of rebuilding a team languishing well behind the standards set by Liverpool and Manchester City.

Asked if United's players had failed to follow his instructions, Rangnick said: "I don't think they ignored the game plan, but we weren't able to stop them.

"We gave them too much space and if you do that against a technically good team like Brighton, you will get punished."

Furious fans

The United fans massed at one end of the Amex Stadium set the tone for another toxic evening as they chanted for the club's American owners, the Glazer family, to sell up. They also held up banners which read "We want our club back".

Not for the first time this season, United's players failed to lift the gloom.

Rangnick's team was stunned in the 15th minute when Ecuador midfielder Caicedo scored his first goal in English soccer.

Alex Telles made a mess of an attempted clearance and Gross' shot fell to the 20-year-old Caicedo, who unleashed a long-range rocket into the bottom corner.

United had failed to muster a single shot on target in a terrible first-half performance. Just four minutes into the second 45, Cucurella cried tears of joy after he also netted his first goal in the English game－the Spanish defender running onto a cutback and driving home.

United was breached again in the 57th minute. Cucurella fed Trossard and he had space to tee up Gross for a flicked finish past David De Gea.

United had totally lost the plot and Brighton piled on the misery on the hour mark. It was a farcical goal that summed up United's decline.

Diogo Dalot tried to clear off the line from Danny Welbeck, but the ball hit Trossard and trickled into the net, with VAR awarding the goal after a check for handball.

Furious United fans taunted their players with chants of "you're not fit to wear the shirt', and "we want Ten Hag".

Brighton supporters gleefully responded by demanding the goals keep flowing for Graham Potter's side, chanting "we want 10".

Agencies