Manchester United hit the lowest of ebbs as they were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Grimsby Town.
After an abysmal first half, the Red Devils fought back from 2-0 down to take the game to penalties thanks to goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire.
The shootout dragged on but ultimately the Mariners came out on top 12-11, as Mbeumo became the villain after hitting the bar from the spot.
Maguire as plan B once again
On a night of few positives for United, Maguire did everything he could to get his team over the line with big contributions at both ends of the pitch.
The Englishman weighed in with another late goal to turn his team’s fortunes around and was also one of the key dangermen in attack – a sad indictment of the lengths to which Ruben Amorim had to go to try and get something from the match.
He had two shots on target, a number matched only by striker Benjamin Sesko and Amad Diallo, deployed largely as a number 10 today.
The 32-year-old was also tidy on the ball, finding his man with 35 of his 37 attempted passes for an impressive 95% accuracy.
Damage limitation
The main takeaway from normal time was just how limp United were, and how much more dangerous Grimsby looked. For the first hour, the hosts were the better side and Maguire played a key role in keeping them down to just two goals.
Only Ayden Heaven had a better day at the office, although with the huge caveat that United’s defence often looked porous and disjointed.
Maguire made eight clearances, just one fewer than Heaven, and also chipped in with one block, one interception and one tackle.
Where Amorim and his team go from here is anyone’s guess, but the Premier League game against Burnley on Saturday has already become a make-or-break match for the new season.
The under-pressure Portuguese will desperately hope he doesn’t have to turn to throwing Maguire up top yet again, but it’s reassuring that the Englishman still has a late goal in him.
All stats taken from sofascore.
Featured image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
