What Ruben Amorim said about Man United losing to Grimsby - he mentions Andre Onana | OneFootball

League Two's Grimsby pulled off one of the biggest upsets in EFL cup history on Wednesday night.

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has said that his side's shock defeat on penalties to Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup was not down to the mistakes of his goalkeeper, Andre Onana.

The 20-time winners of the English top flight had to fight back from 2-0 down in the last 15 minutes of their match at Blundell Park to take League Two side Grimsby to penalties.

And even once they had completed their comeback, via goals from Bryan Mbuemo and Harry Maguire, Amorim's side were still unable to get over the line.

Mbuemo's second spot-kick of the shootout struck the crossbar of Christy Pym - an admitted Man United fan who produced a few magical saves on the night for his side - knocking the Premier League side out of the EFL Cup in just the second round, before many of their divisional opponents entered the competition at all.

Man United head coach Ruben Amorim opens up after embarrassing Grimsby Town defeat

It was a sloppy night to say the least from the Red Devils.

Amorim, who is under serious pressure this season to deliver after a shaky first half-a-season with the club, ultimately found his players to be the chief culprits behind the catastrophic display that his team put out on Wednesday evening.

The Portuguese coach told ITV: "In the end, for me, it was worse, the beginning. It's not about the result.

"In the penalties, I wasn't thinking about the penalties to go to the next stage, I was just... I think the way that we play, the way that we face competition, in one moment that everything is so important, I think the players spoke really loud about what they want today.

"Guys, it's really clear [what the players said with their performance]," Amorim added. "I just want to apologise to our fans and we'll have a game now, and then we have time to think.

"Everything [was missing]. We need to be proud to go to the pitch, we know that every draw in Premier League is going to be a huge problem.

"We came from one draw, we play quite well both games in [the] Premier League. We know that everything, people will get everything in our club, and we come to the game with a fourth division team and we perform like that. I think, again, the players clearly show what they want.

"It's hard to speak. I am seven months here talking about what the environment [is], or whatever. I think it's more than that."

Unsurpisingly, Amorim was not expecting his side to be on the wrong end of the result.

It now gives his side only one realistic opportunity of picking up silverware this season - the FA Cup - and that feels like a long way off what Man United are capable of at this moment in time.

Asked whether he was shocked by the game, he replied: "You are not [shocked]? I am shocked because we are in the moment, we make a lot of changes, we try to fight a lot of things, but then we have these moments we have to show up. If we don't show up, you can feel it that something has to change, and we are not going to change 22 players again."

Onana, the man between the sticks for United, has been slammed for his role in the result.

Grimsby's two first-half goals were more than preventable on his end, and even in the penalty shootout he struggled to make saves that other top-flight keepers would have.

For the boss, it would not be right to pin all the blame on the Cameroonian.

"It's not about the goalkeeper. It's not about the goalkeeper," Amorim added.

"With all due respect, against a fourth division side, we have to block everything about the opponent. Andre should touch the ball with his feet if we are in the high level.

"So, again, I don't know what to say anymore to our fans. It's hard to face everything, and that is it."

Equally, Amorim felt that questions about the way he set up his side on Wednesday were not that relevant. "It's not about the formation. We played against Arsenal and we play really well with the formation. We play against Liverpool, we go to a Europa League final in the disaster season with the same system.

"The system is not important. We can play with three defenders, four defenders, five defenders: it doesn't matter. What matters is that we need to be different, and that is the job of a coach, and you can see that nothing changed."

Most managers stand arm in arm with their staff and the players on the bench during a penalty shootout. Amorim chose to stick to the the dugout, sat with his head down throughout the post-match drama. After what he witnessed, he said that the result did not matter. In fact, had the result gone his way, he would have felt for Grimsby.

"The penalty shootout is not important. If I'm there like trying to see if we win the game, it doesn't matter. The sign, the beginning of the game, during the game, that's the matter.

"If we win this game, it was so unfair for these guys, the opponent. It's so unfair, so, today, the football was really fair, really fair.

"Congratulations to them. We move to the next game, and then we have time to decide things."

Grimsby Town should be the main character of this fantastic David v Goliath story

What should not be lost in all of this, as much as the majority of the story around the game will be about the dire state that Man U find themselves in, is the narrative and the memories that will live with the Grimsby faithful forever.

This is the stuff that all EFL fans - especially those in the lower divisions - dream of.

A night where a big club rocks up to your ground, you turn them over and have never felt more proud of the players who don the shirt that you love so much.

Everyone will laugh at Man United, Amorim, Onana and others in the immediate future. That feeling of when Mbuemo hit the crossbar will never be lost by those Mariners supporters - they have something else to focus on now other than just their promotion push from League Two.