" Jose has nowhere to hide - nor do his players !" We've seen it all before, of course, and we fear what's coming next. Prophet of Doom, Jose Mourinho, left bemoaning the lack of signings in the summer transfer window, has already predicted " a difficult season" ahead. But no-one could have foreseen how quickly his demoralising assessment would begin to gather pace. It's hard to recall such a gutless, mistake-riddled performance in recent times. And if the first half was atrocious, the second period was arguably even worse. It was bad enough turning in 45 minutes of woeful defending, combined with a total lack of understanding throughout the side. But what followed after the manager replaced Juan Mata and Pereira with Lingard and Rashford was a shock to everyone. With a commanding 3-1 advantage to defend, Brighton prepared for the inevitable onslaught but must have been as stunned as everyone else to discover it would just never materialise. United had, in fact, started brightly and should have been ahead when Romelu Lukaku found himself in on goal only to drag his shot wide of the post. The Seagulls were quick to respond and a cross into the six-yard area was met by the alert Glenn Murray who avoided his markers to flick the ball over the shoulder of the surprised David de Gea. Worse was to follow as Eric Bailly, having a nightmare afternoon, failed to clear a corner and Shane Duffy pounced on the loose ball to double the lead. Lukaku headed in from a miscued Luke Shaw drive to halve the arrears but hopes of a comeback were quickly dashed when the struggling Fred failed to control De Gea's clearance and Pascall Gross burst into the penalty area and appeared to be going nowhere when the clumsy Bailly needlessly brought him down. The same player converted the spot kick via De Gea's legs to put distance between themselves and their so-called illustrious opponents. Another famous United fightback on the way? Not this time, as Ed Woodward, like the rest of us, sat in stony silence as the Reds ambled their way through the final 45 minutes as if it was they that held the two-goal advantage. Paul Pogba's last-minute penalty for a foul on the ineffective Fellaini did nothing to lift the clouds of gloom now descending on a beleaguered manager and his stuttering squad. Next up Tottenham with two opening wins and a real test of Mourinho's inspirational skills as the vultures circle above the Theatre of Dreams. Commentary by Lew Fink SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS https://www.youtube.com/c/lifethebasicmanual?sub_confirmation=1 FIND LIFE THE BASIC MANUAL HERE http://lifethebasicmanual.com http://www.facebook.com/lifethebasicmanual http://instagram.com/lifethebasicmanual http://twitter.com/BasicManual