Manchester United were eliminated from the EFL Cup Second Round after losing to EFL League Two side Grimsby Town. After the match, United manager Rúben Amorim spoke to camel.live for an interview.
Reporter: The stadium was filled with all kinds of emotions tonight. I’m wondering, how would you ultimately summarize your feelings?
Amorim: For me, the final result is worse than it seemed at the start. This isn’t about the penalty shootout result. I wasn’t thinking about advancing via penalties. I just… I think the way we played, the way we approached the game – at a time when everything matters so much – I believe the players made their attitude very clear today.
Reporter: In what way?
Amorim: It’s obvious. I just want to apologize to our fans. We still have one more game coming up, and only then will we have time to reflect.
Reporter: So, especially in the first half, what was the key thing that was missing?
Amorim: Everything. We have to take pride in stepping onto the pitch. We know that every draw in the Premier League becomes a big problem. You come off the back of a draw, and we actually played well in our first two Premier League games. But we know the outside world scrutinizes every little thing about this club. Then tonight, we played like this against a fourth-tier team. I think the players have made it very clear what they truly want.
Reporter: Are you saying they don’t want it badly enough? That their mindset isn’t right?
Amorim: I don’t think it’s just that – it’s hard to put into words. I’ve talked for seven months about the environment and things like that, but I don’t think it’s only that.
Reporter: It sounds like you’re almost shocked by tonight’s performance.
Amorim: Aren’t you? I am shocked. I’m really shocked because we’re in a period of so much change, and we’re trying to fix so many things. But when moments like this come, we have to step up. If we don’t step up, you can feel that something has to change – and you can’t replace 22 players all over again.
Reporter: What about Onana? What is he missing right now?
Amorim: The goalkeeper? This isn’t the goalkeeper’s fault. Against a fourth-tier team, we should be blocking all their threats. If we were truly operating at a high level, André (Onana) should only be touching the ball with his feet. So honestly, I don’t know what else to say to the fans. Facing all this is really hard – that’s it.
Reporter: Some might say you made a lot of changes, switched players, or even considered changing the formation?
Amorim: This isn’t a formation issue. We played really well with this formation against Arsenal. We used this formation against Liverpool; we reached the Europa League final with this formation, even in a bad season. The system doesn’t matter – we can play with three, four, or five defenders, and it doesn’t make a difference. What matters is that we have to be different, and that’s the coach’s job. But as you could see, nothing changed.
Reporter: You didn’t watch the penalty shootout?
Amorim: The penalty shootout doesn’t matter. If I’d stood there watching to see if we won, it would have meant nothing. What really matters is what we showed at the start and throughout the game. It would have been completely unfair to the opponent if we’d won this game. So tonight, football was fair. Congratulations to them. We’ll move on to the next game, and then we’ll have time to decide on some things.
