Rashford and Garnacho missed the derby. (Image: 2024 Manchester United FC)
"Yesssss, love it lads," wrote Marcus Rashford on social media shortly after Amad scored the matchwinner against Manchester City. Rashford was left out of the matchday squad alongside Alejandro Garnacho and Ruben Amorim insisted that their omissions weren't a "disciplinary thing."
Rashford has a team who look after his social media and Garnacho was quiet, which was probably advisable given his brother's tendency to like tweets and attract unnecessary attention.
Amorim will speak to journalists again at Carrington on Wednesday ahead of United's match against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup and it's worth revisiting his quotes on the pair.
"It’s important to say why: was not a disciplinary thing," said Amorim. "Next week, next game, new life, they are fighting for their places. But for me, it’s important: the performance in training, the performance in game, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with teammates.
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"The way you push your teammates, everything is important in our context in the beginning of something when when we want to change a lot of things. When people in our club are losing their jobs we have to put the standards really high and for that they have to fight for a place in the team.
"And today the team proved we can leave anyone out of the squad and manage to win if you play together. I’m going to say again was not a disciplinary thing. It’s the small details.
"You can see the games like I see, there are some things that have to change. But it is a new life, it’s not a disciplinary thing, it’s the performance in training, the performance in game and I have to choose players. Jonny Evans did everything right, he was at home, and he is really important for us.
"If it was disciplinary, I would say that here and it will be a bigger problem but was not that. Sometimes I want to improve my players and you understand that for so long. We tried for example with Rash, it does not work. Let’s continue to do the same thing or try something different?
"So it’s as simple as that. If they train well with the talent they have we will be so much better with them. But they have to work hard, they do, today they trained really hard. New week, new life, let’s see.
"You can dress in a way that I don’t like, really don’t like, but it’s not a disciplinary thing. It’s the small details. But the performance in training and games, then I have to choose. That’s it. New week, new life."
Fans have carefully read each of those words in an attempt to gauge what Amorim was feeling but United's head coach clearly saw something he didn't like with Rashford and Garnacho.
In the days since the Manchester derby, there have been reports suggesting Rashford is up for sale and claims that Amorim has demanded a response from him after he was dropped.
There hasn't been as much said about Garnacho, who isn't a senior player like Rashford. Nonetheless, they seem to be in this situation together and it will be fascinating to hear what Amorim says ahead of facing Tottenham and whether he recalls them to the squad in London.
Amorim said the duo "trained well" on the morning of the derby and the application they have shown in training to prepare for Spurs will decide what role they play on Thursday.
It's possible that Rashford and Garnacho both start in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, but a big story would become even bigger if one or both were absent from the squad again.
There are guaranteed to be more twists to come. Hopefully those twists are Rashford and Garnacho responding by knuckling down, working hard for the team and scoring goals, but there is obviously a chance that Amorim's decision on Sunday was the start of something else.