What Ruben Amorim did after Man Utd loss is exactly what Erik ten Hag did before he was sacked

Manchester United were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Grimsby Town on Wednesday, leaving manager Ruben Amorim scrambling for solutions as pressure continues to build on his shoulders

Ruben Amorim could be set to suffer the same fate as Erik ten Hag if Thursday morning’s events are anything to go by. The under-pressure Manchester United boss arrived at the club’s training ground at the crack of dawn, mere hours after overseeing one of the club’s most humiliating nights in recent memory.

On Wednesday, United were sensationally dumped out of the EFL Cup by League 2 side Grimsby Town – a shock result that will no doubt rank among the biggest upsets of the season. The tie ended 2-2 after normal time before Amorim’s side collapsed in a tense penalty shootout, leaving his future at the club hanging by a thread.

Determined to respond, the Portuguese coach arrived at Carrington before 7am, intent on salvaging something from the wreckage. But the gesture carried uncomfortable echoes of his predecessor, Ten Hag, who made the same show of defiance last year in the wake of a bruising 3-0 defeat by Tottenham – a moment that ultimately proved the beginning of the end.

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Like Amorim, Ten Hag began his final season under a cloud after a stuttering end to the previous campaign. Results never improved, and for weeks it felt like when, not if, he’d be sacked, before the axe finally fell in November.

Amorim will be desperate to forge a different path, but the omens are bleak. United are winless after three games, and his dismal 35 per cent win rate as United boss suggests something has to give soon.

He cut a dejected figure on the touchline at Blundell Park, especially after Grimsby surged into a 2-0 lead before the interval. Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire dragged United back into the contest with second-half goals, but the comeback unravelled in the shootout, where summer recruits Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha both missed efforts.

When asked what went wrong on the night, Amorim said: “Everything. The way we started the game, we were not even here. When everything is so important in our club, everything that happened, it’s a problem in our club, we should do so much better. I just have to say sorry to our fans.

“I felt my players spoke really loud today what they want. I think it’s easy for you [how to interpret it]. Let’s focus on the next game and then we have the stop for the international games. We will think things through. Doesn’t matter [that we lost on penalties]. In the penalties, the feeling is the same. I think football was really fair today. The best team won.

“I’m the manager. It should be my job to understand what happened. Again, I’m really sorry for our fans. Let’s focus on the next game. That is more than a result. That is the biggest problem in the team. I think it was really clear today.

“I would like to say very smart things and very important things. I have nothing to say. Nothing to say. That is the biggest problem also. To see the same mistakes and nothing to say in this moment. I’m really sorry for our fans. It’s too much sometimes.

“You cannot change so much. You cannot change everything in one summer. You need to win games. You need to not show this kind of performance. I think this is a little bit the limit. I think something has to change. In this moment, we need to focus on the weekend and then we have time to think.”

After the game, the team bus rolled back into Carrington just after 1am. Players and staff, Amorim among them, collected their cars and slipped away into the night. But while most headed home for rest, the United manager was back at work only hours later.

He arrived nearly four hours before his squad was due to report for training at 11am, throwing himself straight into preparations for Saturday’s showdown with Burnley. The match already carries the weight of a must-win: United sit perilously close to the relegation zone, a haunting echo of last season’s struggles.

A victory would offer the club a much-needed exhale heading into the international break. Anything less, however, risks souring the mood once again – perhaps bitterly enough to leave Amorim going the way of Ten Hag.

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