Ruben Amorim retains the backing of the Manchester United board and will be in charge for Saturday’s match against Burnley.
Amorim, the United head coach, looked despondent after watching his much changed side fall to an embarrassing penalty shoot-out defeat by Grimsby Town in the second round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
That led to questions from outside the club about the Portuguese’s future, but it is understood that Amorim still has the backing of the board, including the United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe is prepared to give Amorim time to turn things around at Old Trafford. That patience will, most likely, be put to the test in the coming weeks if United continue to struggle to win matches.
Although the senior figures at Old Trafford were said to be encouraged by some of the play on show in the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal, when United were by far the better team but missed a host of chances, they threw away a lead in the 1-1 draw against Fulham last weekend and Wednesday’s loss against League Two opposition was a humbling experience for the club and their fans.
Amorim apologised to the United fans who made the trip to Blundell Park to watch their team scramble back from 2-0 down with late goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire.
The head coach, 40, appeared to question whether he could actually get more out of his players, admitting that he could not explain why they performed so badly against a team from the fourth tier.
Wednesday’s defeat by Grimsby means Amorim’s side have failed to win any of their three matches this season
SHAUN BOTTERILL/GETTY IMAGES
Amorim was asked if he could believe what had been witnessed. “No, but I’m the manager,” he said. “It should be my job to understand what happened. Again, I’m really sorry for our fans. Let’s focus on the next game.
“I would like to say very smart things and very important things [about how to improve] but I have nothing to say.”
Amorim’s outburst is nothing new, insiders pointed out. Amorim is an emotional character and was said to be in a far more reflective mood on Thursday despite still being disappointed with the humiliating loss.
After the international break — which follows the match against Burnley — United play away against Manchester City and then have a home game against Chelsea.
Ratcliffe is prepared to give Amorim time to turn things around at Old Trafford
MICHAEL REGAN/UEFA/GETTY IMAGES
“Let’s focus on the next game and then we have time to think about things,” Amorim told MUTV. “We have a job to do, a job to prepare, and then we will stop and think things through.”
The defeat has heightened the importance of the match against Burnley, who won the Championship last season.
Many fans asked why Benjamin Sesko, the £73.7million summer signing from RB Leipzig, was the last of United’s ten outfield player to take a penalty. It is understood that the Slovenian was suffering from cramp at the end of normal time. The pitch at Blundell Park was heavy due to a second-half downpour.
The last time Sesko completed 90 minutes was on April 19 and he was used only as a substitute in the first two Premier League matches of the season.
Amorim left Sporting Lisbon to succeed Erik ten Hag in November and has won only seven of his 29 Premier League matches in charge, although he did lead United to last season’s Europa League final, where they lost to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Times understands that Amorim could be offered an escape route by another of his former clubs, Benfica.
Although Amorim won the Portuguese league twice as manager of Benfica’s rivals, Sporting, he enjoyed a successful playing career at the Estádio da Luz, winning three league titles as a midfielder for the Lisbon-based team.
João Noronha Lopes, who is a candidate in the Benfica presidential race, is said to be hopeful of luring Amorim back to the club. He announced this week that he will be assisted in his campaign by Nuno Gomes, the former Benfica and Blackburn Rovers attacker who is one of Amorim’s closest friends.
Amorim helped Benfica to three league titles as a player
CARLOS RODRIGUES/GETTY IMAGES
At present the former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Bruno Lage is in charge of Benfica, who finished two points behind champions Sporting in last season’s title race.
Lopes, one of five other candidates vying to unseat Rui Costa as president, was keeping tight-lipped about Amorim during a debate with Record, the Portuguese newspaper, but it is understood that he is a big fan of the United head coach and would like to bring him back to Benfica if he wins the election in October.
“He’s an excellent coach, under contract with Manchester United,” Lopes said when asked about Amorim. “I won’t destabilise Benfica. They have a very important match ahead of them.”
Dalot admitted that United were “clearly not good enough” against Grimsby
ALAMY
Diogo Dalot, the United wingback, pulled no punches in his assessment of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup loss. When it was suggested to him that any team that United put out should be capable of beating Grimsby, the Portuguese said: “Exactly. We have the quality. I think the best way for us to have respected Grimsby today was to come here and play 100 per cent. I think that’s what we need to improve for the future.
“I don’t want to go through the same sentence time and again. We just have to show [that] and we just lost one opportunity today to show that we deserve to be here. We clearly were not good enough.”
United are looking to offload a number of their fringe players, including the Chelsea target Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho, Tyrell Malacia and Antony, who is of interest to Real Betis.
United have been looking into the possibility of signing the £17million-rated Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens, 23, from Antwerp so he can provide competition for André Onana, who was one of the worst performers at Blundell Park.