Ruben Amorim reached the nadir of his Manchester United career on Wednesday by becoming the first manager in the club’s history to lose to a fourth-tier side. Knocked out of the Carabao Cup second round by Grimsby Town, the Portuguese tactician’s post-match interview has gone viral.
In a first half of dreams for The Mariners, Charles Vernam and Tyrell Warren were on target to earn a two-goal advantage – but that was overturned by the Premier League giants as Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire scored in the second half.
United’s summer addition Mbeumo struck the crossbar with his penalty and Grimsby fans subsequently swarmed the pitch in jubilation. Now, Amorim, having not won any of his first three matches of the 2025/26 campaign, is walking on very thin ice as we approach the first international break of the season.
Although David Artell’s men covered every blade of grass to ensure they secured passage into the next round of the Carabao Cup, there was something hollow about United’s performance; a lack of identity of sorts and Amorim was not afraid to hold back as he spoke in the aftermath of the loss.
Amorim’s Post-Match Interview After Grimsby Loss Goes Viral
man utd ruben amorim
Cutting something of a broken figure during his post-match interview, the 40-year-old – deemed a success in Portugal with Sporting CP – said: “It’s not about the result. In the penalties, I was not thinking about the penalties to go to the next stage. I think the way we played, the way we faced the competition – when everything is so important, I think the players spoke really loud about what they want today."
Asked to clarify what he meant by his players speaking ‘really loud’, Amorim – widely regarded as one of the best young managers in world football – remained relatively coy by saying: "It’s really clear. I just want to apologise to our fans, and we’ll have a game [vs Burnley] now and then we have time to think.”
Quizzed on ‘what was missing’, Amorim said: “Everything, everything. We need to be proud to go to the pitch. We’ve played quite well in both games in the Premier League, and we come to the game with a fourth division team, and we perform like that.”
“I think, again, the players clearly showed what they want. I don’t think it’s the mentality, it’s hard to speak.”
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim
Amorim, after suffering his worst defeat yet, insists that change is needed – but that a squad overhaul is not the answer. “I am shocked. In the moment, we make a lot of changes, and we tried to fight a lot of things. When we have these moments, we need to show up. If we don’t show up, you can feel that something has to change and you’re not going to change 22 players again.”
He then went on to suggest that Andre Onana – whose error-strewn performance was notable – was not the only player to blame for their premature exit. Moving on from his goalkeeper conundrum, Lisbon-born Amorim continued:
“Again, I don’t know what to say anymore to our fans. It’s hard to face everything and that’s it,” he said before being asked whether it was time to think about moving away with his 3-4-2-1 approach.
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“It’s not about the formation, we played against Arsenal, and we played really well with that formation,” he claimed. “We got to the Europa League final, in a disaster season, in the same system. The system is not important. We can play with 3, 4, 5 defenders, that doesn’t matter.
“What does matter is that we need to be different – and that is the job of the coach. And you can see that, nothing changed.
“The penalty shootout is not important. It doesn’t matter. The beginning of the game, during the game – that’s what matters. If we won this game, it would be so unfair for our opponents. So today, the football was really fair and congratulations to them. We move to the next game and then we have time to decide things.”
With the FA Cup and Premier League left to fight for, Amorim’s men need to dust themselves off and get back at Carrington to prepare for Scott Parker’s Burnley at Old Trafford on 30 August. After the international break, the small matter of facing Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium awaits.