For the first time in more than 40 years, Manchester United was eliminated in the first round of both domestic cup tournaments in the same season.
In August last year, the first shock came from Grimsby Town - a fourth-place team - when they eliminated Man United from the League Cup by a penalty shootout in the second round, after a 2-2 draw.
Then recently, Brighton traveled to Old Trafford in the third round of the FA Cup and left Manchester with a deserved 2-1 victory, further deepening the home team's disappointment. The decision-maker was Danny Welbeck, former Man United striker. This is a detail enough to make fans at the Theatre of Dreams "sigh" another beat.
Brighton is also becoming a familiar nemesis of the "Red Devils". Since the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, no team has defeated Man United more than Brighton in all competitions, with 7 wins.
To find the last time Man United was eliminated in the first round of both the FA Cup and League Cup, it was necessary to go back to the 1981-1982 season - when they stopped early against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup and Watford in the FA Cup.
However, the most shocking figure after the defeat to Brighton lies in the prospect of the entire 2025-2026 season. Having been eliminated early in both cup competitions and not participating in the European Cup, Man United will close this season with only 40 matches.
That would be their lowest number of matches in a season since 1914-1915, when Man United only played 39 matches 111 years ago: 38 matches in the national championship and was eliminated in the first round of the FA Cup by The Wednesday (later renamed Sheffield Wednesday). At that time, the League Cup had not yet existed (the tournament was launched in 1960).
In the Premier League era, Man United's worst season in terms of number of matches so far was 2014-2015, when they only played 44 matches in all competitions in Louis van Gaal's first season. This season is mentioned a lot because of the humiliating stumble when losing to MK Dons 0-4 in the League Cup.
Before this season, there were only 15 cases of a Premier League team playing at least 40 matches correctly. Man United will join that list with Bournemouth, bringing the total to 17.
It's all another note in Man United's seemingly endless decline. Interim coach Darren Fletcher led M.U to draw with Burnley before losing to Brighton, and anyone who takes over the hot seat - with Michael Carrick emerging as the top candidate against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - will face a huge task. That is to restore any positive signal at Old Trafford, not to mention bringing the team back to the orbit of meaningful results.
That is completely possible this season. That's not what fans want to hear about Man United. They should have won titles and competed for the Premier League title.
That is the current situation. We have to face and solve it. This is not Man United's level or what people expect. But we have to do something to change it. We have to take a step forward by winning a Champions League spot - this is important for many reasons" - Fletcher shared.
