Ruben Amorim’s actions during Man Utd’s Carabao Cup exit as telling sign emerges

Ruben Amorim could not watch his Manchester United side take penalties during their shootout loss to Grimsby as the under fire boss sat back in hid dugout throughout

Ruben Amorim sat in the dugout at Grimsby and refused to watch the penalty shootout as his Manchester United side were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by the League Two outfit.

The night began poorly with the Mariners racing into a 2-0 lead by half-time, their second goal owing to a major blunder from Andre Onana. Harry Maguire’s late header rescued the game in normal time with a shootout deciding who went into round three.

Amorim though couldn’t watch as all 11 of his players were forced to take penalties in a shootout that ended 12-11 to Grimsby with Bryan Mbeumo missing the decisive penalty as his effort crashed off the bar.

The Portuguese coach sat back in the dugout whilst his coaching staff stood on the edge of the technical area to watch the tense moments play out. Many seeing it as a telling sign with Amorim under pressure to begin the season well after a poor opening few months.

The loss at Blundell Park will do little to further his ambitions after spending more than £200million this summer. Amorim’s side were outplayed for long periods in Lincolnshire and the Portuguese coach maintained that the penalty outcome was irrelevant following the below par showing.

READ MORE: Ruben Amorim doubles down on furious Man Utd reaction as he launches rant at playersREAD MORE: Jamie Carragher immediately mocks Gary Neville after Man Utd’s Carabao Cup exit

He said: “In the end, the penalties don’t matter. After the game, the penalties if you win or you lose, the feeling [about the 90 minutes] should be the same. Let’s focus on the next game and then we have time to think about things. We have a lot of debts with our fans so let’s focus on the game. We have a job to do, a job to prepare and then we’ll stop and think things through.”

The United boss also added: “I know the best team won today. The best players lost, because when you are a team you can win any game. It was really fair the football today.”

Mbeumo had scored United’s first to make it 2-1 and that was the team’s first goal this season, three games into the campaign. They were held by Arsenal and needed an own goal to find the net during the stalemate at Fulham on Sunday.

The loss at Grimsby was only the second time in thirty year that they’d been dumped out of the Carabao Cup, otherwise the League Cup, in the second round. Louis van Gaal suffered humiliation in 2014 when he lost to MK Dons and in the mid 1990s Sir Alex Ferguson saw United beaten by York City.

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