Player ratings: Brighton 0-3 Manchester United – Mata steals the show | OneFootball

Here are our player ratings for United’s Carabao Cup match against Brighton.

(A score of 6 is around average.)

Dean Henderson 8 – Made a fantastic save to maintain United’s lead and seems to instill confidence and organise his defence in a way David de Gea seems unable to do.

Diogo Dalot 5 – Big chance to impress either Solskjaer or potential buyers today but looked like he didn’t want to mess his hair up. Better in the second half, but a generally disappointing performance.

Eric Bailly 8 – Commanding performance from Bailly, who surely must be first choice for the Spurs game. If injury problems and rushes of blood to the head can be curbed, Bailly is a world-class centre-back.

Victor Lindelof 7 – Lindelof’s best performance this season.

Brandon Williams 6 – Did OK, but no fireworks from the youngster.

Scott McTominay 7 – Seems harsh to criticise a goalscorer, but did little else otherwise. Scott needs to become more imposing and stamp his mark on games.

Fred 5 – Fred seems back to his first season form. Clearly needs regular football to be at his best, and that seems unlikely to happen in current squad unless there are injuries.

Donny van de Beek 8 – It seems that Donny is one of those players who goes about his business quietly but effectively. The flick for Mata’s goal was sublime.

Juan Mata 9 – Man of the match. A goal, an assist and just a masterclass for the younger players on how a football brain and positive attitude can be more important than all the power, speed and strength in the world.

Dan James 3 – It’s quite sad to watch James now and Solskjaer is not doing him any favours by continuing to play him. Needs a loan desperately.

Odion Ighalo 4 – A poor performance from the Nigerian, who is starting to look like the player we saw at Watford rather than the amazing player who arrived from China in January.

Substitutes

Paul Pogba 8 – Pogback! What a fantastic substitute appearance from the Frenchman, capped with a good goal.

Marcus Rashford 7 – Did not have too much influence on the game although looked lively.

Jesse Lingard 5 – Not an impressive few minutes. Could have had a good assist to Rashford but was greedy and squandered the chance.