Grimsby Town boss has spoken out after fielding an ineligible player in his side’s shock win over Manchester United, and Ruben Amorim agrees with him
Manchester United fans will still be reeling from the shock defeat on penalties to League Two side Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup after a fairly poor start to the season.
United started the season showing very promising signs despite losing 1-0 to Arsenal in a close affair at Old Trafford, before getting a point against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Fans would have been hoping that a convincing win against Grimsby could kick start their season and build up some momentum, but instead what they watched was an utter disgrace, as United went 2-0 down to their League Two opposition owing to two mistakes from Andre Onana, before fighting back to take the game to penalties thanks to late goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire.
Grimsby held their nerve in the shootout, with new signing Mbeumo missing his 2nd penalty and the 26th of the shootout to send Grimsby through to the third round of the cup.
Grimsby boss speaks out
After the tie, it came to light that Grimsby had fielded an ineligible player after the club itself reported the breach to the EFL, and were handed a £20,000 fine for the administrative error.
Despite previous precedent in the FA Cup, which has seen teams ejected from the tournament, United aren’t expected to appeal the decision.
Grimsby boss David Artell addressed the situation on BBC Radio Humberside, via Manchester Evening News, maintaining that nothing can take away his side’s performance against United.
“The club has made a statement, and I refer them to the statement,” stated Artell. “From my point of view as head coach, no one can take away that performance. Nobody can.
“We were the better team for 70 minutes or for 75 minutes. We should have been 3-0 regardless of everything else that has gone off since, and I am extremely proud of the performance of the players, all of the players. I thought we deserved to win the game.
“What happens surrounding that isn’t in my domain [to say] but, like I say, nobody can take away the performance of the players and the manner of the victory, certainly not in my eyes anyway.
“What happened was unfortunate, we owned up, made a statement, let everyone know and we move on.”
Amorim completely agrees with Artell
Following his side’s shock exit in the second round of the cup, Rúben Amorim was critical of his players, hinting that poor attitude remains a significant issue within the squad.
Speaking after United lost a Carabao Cup tie against a fourth-tier team for the first time, Amorim agreed with the Grimsby manager’s verdict on the tie.
He said: “I know that the best team won today. The best players lost because when you are a team, you can win any game… I think the [result] was really fair [today].”
United bounced back from the tie, beating Burnley 3-2 thanks to a stoppage-time penalty from captain Bruno Fernandes to finally get United’s first win of the 2025/26 campaign
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