CRASH 'N BURN

Amorim puts on brave face but can't hide his feelings

- by DAVID McDONNELL

RUBEN AMORIM breezed into the media room at Manchester United’s training ground seemingly without a care in the world.

With a flash of that megawatt smile, a cheery “Hi guys!” and a wink towards the assembled film cameras, Amorim did not carry the air of a manager in the midst of a full-blown crisis.

But after United’s humiliating Carabao Cup exit to League Two Grimsby, on the back of a solitary point from their opening two Premier League games, Amorim finds himself firmly in embattled mode.

Less than 48 hours earlier, a bedraggled Amorim, not long after he was seen desperately fiddling with a tactics board in the dugout (inset), cut a tortured soul as he tried to make sense of his side’s capitulation.

He spoke candidly and with raw emotion, admitting he was “shocked” by what he had witnessed from his players.