Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot lambasted the team’s efforts on a rainy night in Grimbsy.
Catastrophic performance
The League Two side, Grimsby Town, battered United in every metric in the first half and went into the break 2-0 up after two howlers from Andre Onana.
The Red Devils did fight back in the second half to make it 2-2 and missed a golden chance late on to win it in normal time.
In an incredible penalty shootout, the contest saw both keepers score before Bryan Mbeumo missed his second penalty to see Grimsby win 12-11 on penalties.
Diogo Dalot less than impressed
Speaking to MUTV after the match, Dalot lambasted the effort of his side when asked to comment on the team’s performance.
He stated, “I mean, not good enough clearly. What we did, especially in the first half, we gave the game to them. They showed exactly what they wanted, win duels, second balls, set plays. I mean, we fought back but that was the minimum we could show for the fans that travelled today for ourselves and the club.”
The Portuguese international suggested that the squad did not play as hard as they should have and perhaps misjudged Grimsby’s effort.
He added, “we can’t come here and expect that is going to be easy. We know already this competition, these clubs. Credit to them, they fought really hard to go through but it shouldn’t be enough to win against us. We should have shown much more.”
Dalot elaborated on this lack of desire and claimed that the Red Devils did not pay enough respect to the opponent, competition or contest.
The interviewer commented that the quality difference between a Premier League side and a League Two side should have been enough but Dalot agreed even more was missing.
Groundhog day
He stated, “not just the quality but the minimum standards that you ask for. The best way for us to respect it was to come here and play 100%. That’s what we need to improve in the future. I don’t want to go through the same sentences time and again but we just have to show and we just lost an opportunity here to show that we deserve to be here.”
Finally, he was asked about United’s upcoming fixture against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.
Dalot asserted that, “On Saturday the approach has to be different, the quality has to be different and to win the game, that is what the fans want.”
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
