Pascal Gross tapped in to score past Manchester United under their fourth different manager. Gross then struck again for Brighton. Gross again for United.
There were boos at the pause. Dumbfounded United supporters stood, their arms crossed, puffing their cheeks. The reactions were identical at full-time. New season, old United.
John Murtough, the football director, and chief executive Richard Arnold stared stoically from the directors' box. Darren Fletcher and the goalkeeping coaches had to run the gauntlet and mingle with supporters as they were relocated to the stands with the analysts. Fletcher wisely headed inside two minutes before the final shrill.
Read more: United player ratings vs Brighton
The co-chairman, Avram Glazer, had even crossed the Atlantic. "We want Glazers out" was aired long before Gross struck and the downbeat mood among United supporters has only been exacerbated.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. The current United squad is Europa League fodder and will be staring up at the Champions League coterie in May without quality reinforcements. The propitious pre-season was misleading, as it was in 2014. In the post-Ferguson era, the only United managers not to win their first match in charge have been Dutch.
The crowd sighed at Scott McTominay's superfluous flick and the dawdling Luke Shaw had to be advised to spring with Danny Welbeck. There were groans of exasperation at Marcus Rashford. An auspicious August this is not.
After the diabolical debacle at the Amex Stadium in May, United should not have needed reminding you cannot meander against Brighton yet they did. Brighton, now devoid of Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella, still have a set playing style and structure under one of the league's most progressive coaches. Their 2-0 advantage at the pause did not flatter them.
United look exactly what they are: a team lacking an imposing midfielder and dependable goalscorer. The midfield malaise was captured in a microcosm by Scott McTominay, who needed six touches in the final third, overran the ball and was booked for an overzealous foul on Moises Caicedo.
For the second time, Caicedo - once targeted by United - bossed his once prospective teammates. "Down with the Palace," the Seagulls crowed.
Erik ten Hag cannot hide behind the United suits in the directors' box. Experimenting with Christian Eriksen up front jarred with United's pre-season preparations of starting a centre forward in the centre forward's role. Without Anthony Martial, Ten Hag still had Cristiano Ronaldo or Anthony Elanga, at a push. Alejandro Garnacho even emerged late on.
Ronaldo implored his teammates to react to Gross's opening goal. They didn't. Eventually, Ronaldo was summoned early in the second-half for the forlorn Fred and Eriksen dropped deep.
Ten Hag extracted some of the sting from Ronaldo's benching by accompanying him with Elanga, without a goal since February and ineffectual in pre-season.
Ultimately, it was with Ronaldo on and Eriksen repositioned as a deep-lying playmaker that United improved and scored scruffily from Bruno Fernandes's corner through Alexis Mac Allister's own goal on 68 minutes. As Sir Alex Ferguson quipped following Ronaldo's demotion to the bench by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last year: you play your best players.
More than two weeks ago, Ten Hag bemoaned a lack of options up front and it was patent, albeit exacerbated by his tactical error. Losing without Ronaldo starting will invite more brutal back page splashes and United were better with him on the pitch.
Ten Hag may realise now he was naive to entrust Rashford, with aspirations to play at the tip of the arrow, with such responsibility after he spurned two glaring opportunities. The offside for the first irrelevant for the replay showed the flagged Ronaldo was onside. For the second, Rashford did not anticipate the ball dropping to him and he stretched and snatched at it desperately.
Ten Hag was the last to emerge from the tunnel and was treated to a rapturous ovation, as well as a high-five from Fred the Red. The bullish atmosphere that echoed around the stadium was reflected by the players' body language; no longer defeatist and and one of resignation. That was when the afternoon peaked.
All of the unused or unavailable players assembled in the directors' box, still settled in their seats at the final whistle after last week's transgressions. That is possibly the only measure of progress.
A supporter who observed the protest outside the stadium messaged to say the Megastore had closed but noted many of the protesters were dressed in replica shirts, undermining the cause. Co-chairman Glazer was in attendance for only the third time in the last three years. His brother Joel has been in exile for close to three-and-a-half years.
Jaap Stam, possibly United's most revered Dutchman, was serenaded by the Stretford End. The newly-signed centre-back, Lisandro Martinez, was fortunate not to be penalised for a shove on Danny Welbeck inside the area while on a yellow card. Central defence was an unforgiving area for Stam to start his United career, back in the halcyon days when they were either champions or runners-up.
The tone for the afternoon was set in the first minute. Ten Hag's amrs were outstretched, querying Diogo Dalot's looseness with the ball inside his own area. Dalot moved into midfield and Harry Maguire shifted to the right side of defence when United had possession in their own half, another clear intention of Ten Hag's tactical flexibility.
There was scant evidence of any additional innovation. The derided McTominay-Fred axis was finessed with the former a No.8 to Fred's No.6. United were at sixes and sevens.
Then Gross struck again.
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