The scenes from Manchester United’s Carabao Cup loss to fourth their side Grimsby Town will never escape Ruben Amorim for the remainder of his time at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese manager endured a horrific night he would love to erase from his memory as his side come from 2-0 down after half an hour, to lose 12-11 on penalties in a marathon shootout.
New signing Bryan Mbeumo’s miss that prompted the Grimsby fans to storm in the pitch at Blundell Park to celebrate a night they will never forget is not the image that he will cling to Amorim like mud, however.
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That will be the screenshots the flooded social media of the broadcast showing the 40-year-old lost for ideas, and later unable to watch, in the dugout.
Amorim has already been mocked relentlessly for an image of him moving magnets when his side were 2-0 down with a little under half an hour of regular time remaining.
With no disrespect to the two-time manager of the year in the Portuguese league, he looked dumbfounded and helpless.
It also looked like a toy a football-mad child might play with while watching matches in their lounge room.
The Telegraph’s chief football correspondent Jason Burt was quick to compare it to the infamous “wally with a brolly” picture that tarnished a former English boss 18 years ago, with the awful weather also creating a parallel between embarrassing nights in English football.
“It was, for the United head coach, his “wally with a brolly” moment, a harking back to the then England manager Steve McClaren’s powerless behaviour on the touchline at Wembley as Croatia ended their hopes of qualifying for the 2008 European Championship on an equally dank, sodden evening,” Burt wrote.
“McClaren never lived it down. He never recovered. Unfortunately for Amorim he may now never live down the sight of him looking like a desperate bag of nerves hoping that somehow the expensively assembled team he put out will make it through in one of only the two competitions they could have feasibly won this season.”
The memes continued during the penalty shootout as instead of standing on the touchline riding every kick, Amorim sat behind his assistants at the back of the dugout.
He could not bare to watch as he surely knew that regardless of the result, this night could be a career-ruining one.
He even hinted at it being so much in a post-interview.
United have splurged £200 million (A$416.5 million) on new attacking trio Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko this transfer window, but are yet to sell any of the likes of Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho or Jadon Sancho, who have been banished from the squad.
The attempted revamp has proven unfruitful so far, not only in the money coming in column on the balance sheet, but also on the pitch.
United’s only goal in the Premier League so far this season was an own goal.
Mbeumo scored his first United goal against Grimsley, but his penalty miss sealed the loss.
Cunha has looked solid, but missed his penalty when he had the chance to win the match at 4-4.
Sesko made his first start since joining the club from the Bundesliga, but the striker curiously did not step up to the spot until the tenth penalty.
Bruno sends vital penalty into row Z | 00:28
If the change in personnel continues to not yield results, Amorim suggested that something else will have to change.
“I am shocked because we are in the moment when we make a lot of changes,” he said on ITV.
“We try to fight a lot of things but then 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 are not going to change 22 players again.”
Those words stand in stark contrast to Amorim declaring less than two weeks ago, following a 1-0 opening weekend loss at home to Arsenal, that “we proved that we can beat every team in the Premier League”.
United are winless from three outings this season.
Their personnel is undeniably a concern.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana made his first start of the season, and his missed punch led to a tap-in for the second Grimsby goal.
The Cameroonian has been much maligned since he joined from Inter Milan in 2023, and his blunder only poured more fuel on the ravaging fire that is United’s struggles.
Amorim defended Onana, however, after leaving him out of the squad against Arsenal, and on the bench in their 1-1 draw at Fulham last weekend.
“With all due respect, when you play against a fourth division team, it’s not the goalkeeper, it’s everything,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s the environment, it’s the way we face the competition. We know that in the moment, people will pay attention to everything, it’s massive – every detail. We showed that performance today. My players spoke for me, really loud.
“It doesn’t matter if we recover [from 2-0 down] or not. It’s the signs the team made during the game. The beginning of the game.
“I know that the best team won, the only team that was on the pitch. The best players lose, because one team can win against any group of players.
“I think the team and the players spoke really loud today. That’s it. We lost. The best team won.”
When he was asked to clarify his comments that the players spoke “really loud”, Amorim said: “It’s really clear what they spoke. Let’s move on from this day. I think it was really clear for everybody what happened today.
“It’s not just the space, but the way we started the game without any intensity. All the ideas of the pressure, we were completely lost. It’s hard to explain. That’s what they spoke really loud.”
Amorim could be forgiven for believing his players’ effort levels were telling him they no longer believe in him.
Since taking over in December, the Portuguese manager has overseen 19 defeats and 17 wins in 45 games.
United finished 16th last Premier League season with its lowest ever points tally, and least amount of goals scored.
His record has been boosted by their run to the Europa League final, and he will no longer be afforded the same excuses as last campaign.
Taking charge once a season had already began, many pundits said Amorim needed time to instil his philosophy and rejuvenate the squad.
He needed an off-season and a transfer window to shape United into his image.
Like the images from the dugout at Grimsby, the current one is not flattering.
Amorim’s critics are starting to note a lack of flexibility.
He prefers a 3-4-3 formation that has turned into a 3-4-2-1 in all three matches this season with two wing-backs supporting the three central defenders, while a sole striker is supported by two wide forwards.
It is a structure that the players are clearly struggling to click with.
Former Liverpool and England midfielder Danny Murphy said on TalkSport that “his system is the problem” before adding, “I wouldn’t like to play in that system as a midfielder, no chance”.
“What midfielder at Manchester United has progressed in that system under him?” Murphy continued.
“They’ve all digressed. Everyone of them’s been hammered.
“And the reason is because if you play in two in the middle of the park in any system, you’re going to get over run and in trouble.”
Former Premier League midfielder Jobi McAnuff was also critical, saying on Sky Sports, “it just seems crazy that he’s so wedded to this formation at all costs”.
In the same conversation, former United defender Phil Jones was less convinced the tactics are the problem.
“When you play lower league opposition, if you don’t do the basics well, you’re gonna come unstuck,” Jones said on Sky Sports.
“In a game like tonight, you can talk to me about tactics and systems and formations, just you had to do the basics well tonight.”
Now, Amorim’s previous achievements are also being diminished, with BBC’s Manchester United reporter Simon Stone writing that his success in his home nation of Portugal had little to do with any tactical brilliance.
“The United boss felt his method of playing at Sporting, with three central defenders, two wing-backs, two central midfielders, two number 10s and a central striker, was the reason for his success,” Stone wrote.
“This may be true. He was also at a club famed for developing highly talented young players in a league far less physically demanding than he has encountered in England, and where the competition, other than a couple of notable exceptions in Benfica and Porto, is typically limited.”
One thing Amorim also stays true to is his connection with the fans.
He has shown himself to be charismatic, and the fact he apologised for such a poor showing may gain him some grace.
“When you lose but you see something new, it’s different. When you see something different like today, it’s hard to talk about that,” Amorim said.
“I just want to say I’m really sorry to the fans. The support they give me, the support that they are always, with all the defeats, with the team, today I have nothing to say apart from sorry.
“I think they gave the response on the pitch today. Now, we have a game in the weekend and then two weeks off. We will solve things out.”
They will desperately need to “solve things” as a loss to the newly promoted Burnley at Old Trafford in the early hours of Sunday morning Australian time could prompt outright revolt from the fans.
With the Manchester Derby at the Etihad, as well as hosting Chelsea, to come after the international break, there is little time for Amorim to show he can turn the ship around.
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