Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim suffered the most embarrassing result of his Old Trafford reign as his woeful team were humiliated by League Two’s Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.
First-half goals from Charles Vernam and Tyrell Warren, after errors from Andre Onana, saw the home side take a 2-0 lead before goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire sent the tie to penalties.
Matheus Cunha had a chance to win the tie in the shootout, but his tame spot kick was kept out by Christy Pym and an epic 13-round shootout was only settled when Mbeumo’s second penalty hit the bar. It was not a set of penalties that reflected well on Amorim’s new £200m frontline, with Cunha and Mbeumo missing and Benjamin Sesko strangely 10th in the order.
But make no mistake, United got what they deserved, and this cranks up the pressure on Amorim, who oddly refused to watch his own side’s penalties while sitting in the dugout.
This is only the third time in 30 years that United have gone out at the second-round stage. They were eliminated in 1995-96 by third-tier York City and then again by third-tier MK Dons in 2014-15. The defeat means Amorim’s side can only play a maximum of 45 matches this season (and that would mean reaching the FA Cup final). Only once since 1959 have they played fewer games in a campaign (44 in 2014-15).
