Ruben Amorim has defended his decision to leave Marcus Rashford out of Manchester United’s squad for their 4-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.
Despite the loss, which saw United crash out of the competition, the United manager insisted he was right to make the controversial call.
Rashford, who was also omitted from the squad in the 2-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday, hinted in an interview earlier this week that he may want to leave the club.
When asked if Tottenham’s victory had made him reconsider his decision to drop the England forward, Ruben Amorim stood firm.
“I feel that I do the right thing for the team so it’s never a mistake. We have to make a selection.”
”I think it wasn’t a mistake because I’m always doing the best for the team in my way of seeing things.”
Manchester ,United mounted a brief comeback after going 3-0 down. Two errors from Spurs goalkeeper Fraser Forster allowed them to claw back to 3-2, but Spurs sealed the win with a fourth goal, before Jonny Evans scored a late consolation for United.
Analysing the game, Amorim pointed to an eight-minute spell at the start of the second half when Spurs scored twice as the turning point.
“We control the possession I think. We were not the best team in all of the game, but for most of the parts I think we were the best team.”
”I think we disconnect for eight minutes and it is really hard to recover from that. The lads did a great job to recover,” Amorim said.
“We still had time to win the game, but the fourth goal was really hard for us. In the end it was not enough and we’re out of the cup.”
The match also proved difficult for the goalkeepers, with United’s No.2 Altay Bayindir at fault for two of Tottenham’s goals.
Forster’s mistakes were more glaring, particularly the second when he hesitated on a back pass and was charged down by Amad Diallo.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou acknowledged Forster’s struggles but praised his overall performance.
“He is disappointed because he was outstanding for us. Even before then in the first half, I thought he was really good with his feet, he found some great solutions,” Postecoglou said.
“The first one probably affected his confidence a little bit and he lost a bit of belief, and the second one compounded it. But he is a big boy and he is another one who has stood up for us big time in this period.”
”I can’t speak highly enough of this group of players.”
With the defeat, United are out of the Carabao Cup, while Tottenham will face Liverpool in the semifinals.
The first leg of that tie is scheduled for the weekend of January 6.
