Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim cast considerable doubt over his future in the role, hinting that his players told him everything he needs to know about their commitment with a miserable performance in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup second-round exit to Grimsby Town.

After collecting one point from their opening two Premier League matches, the glimmer of optimism which those displays had sparked was firmly extinguished by a rain-sodden defeat.

“I think the players spoke really loudly about what they want today,” Amorim lamented in a steely interview with ITV Sport’s Gabriel Clarke. “I think it was clear for everybody what happened today. The way we start the game without any intensity, all the idea of the pressure, we were completely lost and that’s why I think they spoke really loud.”

“Something has to change,“ the 40-year-old fretted, “and you’re not going to change 22 players again. It’s hard to face everything. We move to the next game, then we have time to decide things.”

United fell 2–0 down to the fourth-tier hosts in a dismal first-half display. Despite naming a strong starting XI, Amorim tossed on Matthijs de Ligt, Bruno Fernandes and Bryan Mbeumo at halftime.

A biblical downpour gave this enthralling cup an added layer of drama. At one point midway through the second half, Amorim was spotted frantically fiddling with a magnetic tactics board, shifting the counters between the fat rain drops. One of the coach’s changes did halve the deficit, as Mbeumo bent a left-footed strike into the bottom corner in the 75th-minute.

Harry Maguire’s late equaliser owed more to brute force than any brainy system change, forcing a penalty shootout which Amorim couldn’t bring himself to watch.

As he later explained to Sky Sports, the outcome of the shootout was irrelevant to Amorim. The damage had been done by the listless 90 minutes of open-play action. “In the end, it doesn’t matter if we recover or not, it’s the signs the team gave during the game, the beginning of the game.

“I think the best team won, the only team that was on the pitch. The best players lose because one team can win against any group of players, and I think the team and the players spoke really loud today, so that’s it. We lost, the best team won.”

Amorim cut an even more defeated figure in the post-match press conference. “I would like to say very smart things and very important things. I have nothing to say,” he sighed. “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.”

Grimsby Town manager David Artell struck a very different tone to his beaten opponent. “Look, they’re an unbelievable team, Manchester United,” he told ITV Sport. “They’ve got an unbelievable manager and they’re on the right track, you can see that.” Amorim doesn’t appear to share that opinion. Whether the club’s board are as confident in their manager remains to be seen.

READ THE LATEST MAN UTD NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE


This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Players Spoke Really Loud’—Ruben Amorim Questions His Man Utd Future.