MANCHESTER, England -- The "one step forward, one step back" nature of Ruben Amorim's Manchester United prompted the Portuguese coach to say a couple of weeks ago: "We have no momentum in our club." After beating Brighton to go with wins over Sunderland and Liverpool, he does now. Two goals from Bryan Mbeumo and one each for Matheus Cunha and Casemiro earned a 4-2 win to make it three in a row.
Nothing ever seems straightforward for United, and Amorim had to watch nervously as Brighton battled back from 3-0 down to get within sight of a point at 3-2. Mbeumo's late second goal finally relieved the tension, and for the first time since February 2024, United are on a winning run in the Premier League stretching three games.
"The result was really important and also the performance," Amorim said afterward. "We had to play different games in different moments of the game. We suffered a little bit at the end. It would not be Manchester United without a bit of suffering, but I think we deserved to win against a very, very good team."
Amorim's coaching credentials have been dragged through the mud during a difficult start to his United reign. But he got it right against Liverpool at Anfield last weekend and did so again here. With Brighton forwards Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck dropping deep into midfield when goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen got the ball, Amorim asked defenders Luke Shaw and Matthijs de Ligt to follow them in. It was an aggressive approach and occasionally left gaps for Brighton runners, but it paid off.
- Amorim's record has a missing middle: Can Man United solve the riddle of midtable sides?
- Are set plays ruining the Premier League? How throw-ins are adding boredom
United were already ahead thanks to Matheus Cunha's first goal since his summer move from Wolves. And when Brighton tried to play out from the back again, the ball was passed into Rutter, who was pounced upon by Shaw. The ball broke to Casemiro, and the Brazilian found the net from outside the box thanks to a heavy deflection off Yasin Ayari. With Verbruggen completely wrong-footed, there was an element of fortune, but it was made possible by Amorim's plan.
Turns out he can coach after all.
"That was the plan," said Amorim. "When we have Harry Maguire, we can defend the box better and play a little bit lower. But when you have players who can press high -- [Matthijs de Ligt] and Luke Shaw -- we can press a little bit higher."
It was a victory for Amorim's tactical intelligence, but also for CEO Omar Berrada, director of football Jason Wilcox and the recruitment team. A lack of goals was a serious problem last season, and United looked to fix it over the summer by bringing in Cunha, Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko. Cunha was terrific in the win at Anfield and was finally rewarded with his first United goal here with a pinpoint finish. It was the type of half chance that wouldn't have been taken last season.
After Casemiro's fortuitous strike made it 2-0, Mbeumo added to his goal at Anfield by shooting low through the legs of a Brighton defender and into the corner. At that point -- on the hour mark -- it should have been game over. But with the influential Casemiro removed to save his legs, Brighton finally got themselves on the front foot and scored twice through a wonderfully taken Danny Welbeck free kick and a Charalampos Kostoulas header. It was only when Mbeumo scored again in stoppage time that Amorim could be sure of that precious momentum.
"If we win the ball high we have players in front of the goal and they are so good that you only need one chance," Amorim said.
Asked what was the biggest difference in Amorim's team compared to Brighton's win at Old Trafford in January, manager Fabian Hürzeler praised the way United pressed and gave special mention to the impact of Amorim's new players. "They pressed well in the first half," he said. "Much more intense, much more compact. More individual quality so the money was well invested."
It's in games like this that United have struggled the most since Amorim's appointment. Aside from defeating newly promoted teams and those among the Big Six, he had only beaten Everton, Fulham and Aston Villa. He can now add Brighton to the list, and for the United boss, it prompted a different kind of satisfaction than the headline-grabbing win at Anfield.
"I think it was a more complete performance," Amorim said. "You can say whatever you want to say against Liverpool, but they didn't deserve to lose that game. We deserved to win but they didn't deserve to lose. I think today we did a little bit of everything. We had the ball, we created chances, we defended high, we defended low. So then it's more complete."
At the final whistle, United moved up into the top four -- a position Amorim has never occupied before since taking the job nearly a year ago. Finally, the momentum is there.