If Ruben Amorim is contemplating throwing in the towel as Manchester United manager, his actions on Thursday morning suggested otherwise. Despite a nightmarish evening before, Amorim was back at his desk at Carrington early on Thursday, ready to move forward. The Portuguese boss had barely caught a wink of sleep following United's shocking defeat to Grimsby Town at Blundell Park.
It saw the Red Devils crash out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after a dismal performance that saw them go 2-0 down, claw it back to 2-2 late on, only to then lose on spot-kicks. Following their embarrassment, the team returned to Carrington just past 1am. Players and coaching staff, including Amorim, collected their cars and headed home, but the United boss was back on duty just hours later.
He arrived at the training complex shortly after 7am on Thursday morning. The full squad reported for training at 11am, with plenty of long faces among them, and now have two days to prepare for their Premier League clash against Burnley.
The players who started against Grimsby are focusing on recovery work today in preparation for Burnley, while those who were on the bench or not included in the squad are completing a training session.
Luke Shaw and Leny Yoro, who were rested for the trip to Grimsby, are expected to return on Saturday.
When questioned about what went awry following Wednesday's defeat, Amorim responded: "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. I just have to say sorry to our fans.
"I felt my players spoke really loud today what they want. I think it's easy for you [how to interpret it]. 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 we lost on penalties]. In the penalties, the feeling is the same. I think football was really fair today. The best team won.
"I'm the manager. It should be my job to understand what happened. Again, I'm really sorry for our fans. Let's focus on the next game. That is more than a result. That is the biggest problem in the team. I think it was really clear today.
"I would like to say very smart things and very important things. I have nothing to say. Nothing to say. 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.
"You cannot change so much. You cannot change everything in one summer. You need to win games. You need to not show this kind of performance. I think this is a little bit the limit.
"I think something has to change. In this moment, we need to focus on the weekend and then we have time to think."
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