As Manchester United celebrated their victory, Rashford posted a photo on social media. “Yes, boys! Love it guys,” the caption read, with two heart emojis for emphasis. Garnacho remained silent.
Both trained at Carrington on Sunday morning but neither was selected for the City match.
Manchester had no shortage of rumors about the reasons for their neglect.
However, when he came with explanations, Amorim repeatedly emphasized that it was not a disciplinary issue.
The deeper you looked into his words, the harder it was to avoid the conclusion that they amounted to a lack of discipline, or at least a lowering of standards.
Amorim even used the recent layoffs among employees to realize that there would be consequences if his demands were not met.
“Next week, next game, new life,” he said.
“It’s important to me; performance in training, performance in matches, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you interact with your teammates, the way you put pressure on them.
“Everything is important. In our context, at the beginning of something, when we want to change a lot, when people in our clubs are losing their jobs, we have to ensure really high standards.
“Today the team proved that they can eliminate anyone and win if they play together.”
Amorim used the example of Jonny Evans to emphasize that with a tighter squad, there won’t always be room for everyone, as the experienced defender found out today.
However, there is clearly a significant difference between the 36-year-old Evans, who has enjoyed an Indian summer in his career at the club where it all started, and Rashford and Garnacho.
Rashford is one of United’s highest paid players. Garnacho is one of the brightest young stars. Importantly, both also prefer to play in a wide attack, which is not present in Amorim’s new squad.
But where Amad quickly adapted and flourished, Rashford and Garnacho clearly did not.
“It’s an important topic to discuss because he clearly saw things he didn’t like,” former United captain Roy Keane told Sky Sports. “But it’s not a big surprise for us because both players were weak and he said enough.
We’ll see how they react to it. We’ve been talking about mindset for the last few years. The new manager will take care of all this.
The problem for Rashford in particular is that there have been problems in the past.
He was released by Ten Hag for the match against Wolves after he missed the team’s kick-off, and in January he was dismissed by Ten Hag in response to learning that Rashford had stayed longer than planned on a planned trip to Belfast and, as a result, was late for training match.
At 27, Rashford should be in the prime of his career, but Amorim seems ready to face a direct confrontation.
