Brighton 3-2 Manchester United: 4 talking points

#1 Lack of defensive reinforcements

Victor Lindelof had a poor game

One of United's and Mourinho's major concerns coming into this season was their centre-back options. Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Danny Blind, Marcos Rojo and Victor Lindelof all struggled to impress last season, while Eric Bailly had fitness issues for most of the campaign.

These concerns led Mourinho to mount an all-out offensive to add defensive options to his squad, sanctioning the very serious pursuits of Toby Alderwireld at Tottenham, Harry Maguire from Leicester and even Diego Godin of Atletico Madrid on EPL transfer deadline day. However, all those speculations amounted to nothing, as United failed to get any of their central defensive targets.

Jose Mourinho was stuck with his options from last season, and due to injuries to some other players, he was left with no option but to start Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof.

Victor Lindelof was signed from Benfica at the start of last season in a £37m deal, but struggled in his pre-season fixtures and had to wait until September to make his Premier League debut.

Lindelof failed to convince on the few occasions while he was playing the last term, leading many to question the reason for his purchase.

Despite his troubles at United, however, the 24-year-old was called up by his nation for the World Cup and featured in all five matches of Sweden's quarter-final elimination.

Eric Bailly, on the other hand, was one of the first signings made by Jose Mourinho in 2016, and impressed significantly in his debut season, but had his second marred by fitness issues and injuries.

Both players started in United's opening day 2-1 victory over Leicester and put in solid displays, particularly Lindelof, leading many to suggest he might have a huge role to play this season.

Their performance against Brighton, however, was a far cry from the level expected of United defenders. They were constantly caught out of position by the Brighton attackers, and it was Lindelof's poor marking that led to Glen Murray's opener, as the Swede failed to spot the striker's run to the near post and allowed him an easy finish. His performance was roundly criticized by pundits, with one calling it 'crazy'.

Manchester United's defending was also in shambles for the second goal, as they repeatedly failed to clear their lines from a Brighton corner, and criminally left defender Shane Duffy unmarked ten yards from goal, where he stroked home into the net following Anthony Knockaert's cutback.

Eric Bailly was also at fault for the third goal conceded, after the Ivorien inexplicably went to ground and committed an unnecessary tackle on Paschal Gross for a penalty with the German already going away from goal.

Title winning teams are largely built on strong defenses, and with Manchester United's shambolic defensive showing at the Amex, this team is a far way off from being genuine title contenders.