Ruben Amorim gave a bizarre and concerning response after he appeared to take little interest in Manchester United’s penalty shootout loss against Grimsby Town.
Last night’s Carabao Cup tie went the full distance after United scored two late goals to at least avoid the ignominy of a defeat in 90 minutes.
Amorim selected a strong side which contained two of his headline summer signings in Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, who made his first start.
Bryan Mbeumo was introduced at the start of the second half and scored his first goal in United colours to haul his team back into the contest against League Two opposition before Harry Maguire plundered an 89th minute equaliser.
Sesko then spurned a glorious opportunity to win the match, poking over from the edge of the six yard box, which afforded Grimsby a second opportunity to stage an act of seismic giant killing.
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An epic shootout eventually saw the Mariners advance to the third round after Mbeumo, following Cunha’s earlier miss, saw his second effort clip the crossbar.
Overall, 26 penalties were taking over the course of a shootout that appeared as if it would never end, but Amorim appeared to take little notice of what was going on and sat slouched in his dugout as his players went through the ringer.
Asked about his apparent lack of interest, Amorim said: ‘The penalty shootout is not important.
‘If I’m there trying to see if we win the game… it doesn’t matter. The signs, the beginning of the game, during the game, that is what matters.
‘If we won this game, it would have been so unfair for these guys, the opponents. Today the football was really fair, congratulations to them.
‘We move to the next game and then we have time to decide things.’
Asked what the most disappointing aspect of the performance had been, United boss 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, so I just have to say sorry to our fans.
‘I felt my players spoke really loud today what they want.’
Pushed to elaborate on what he meant by that, Amorim added: ‘I think it’s easy for you (to understand). 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 it went to penalties). In the penalties, the feeling is the same. I think football was really fair today. The best team won.’
