Ruben Amorim said on Friday that Alejandro Garnacho will take his teammates out for dinner to apologise for disappearing straight down the tunnel after being substituted in Manchester United‘s Premier League win against Ipswich.
Patrick Dorgu’s sending off shortly before half-time on Wednesday led to a reshuffle, with Argentina international Garnacho, 20, heading immediately down the touchline after being replaced by defender Noussair Mazraoui.
Amorim said after the 3-2 win that he would speak to Garnacho, who took the initiative and came to see the United manager on Thursday morning about the situation.
“He came to me,” Amorim said ahead of his team’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Fulham on Sunday. “It was funny because in the next day he came to me, to my office.
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“I did some investigations, and he went to the dressing room, he changed his clothes because he was wet.
“He watched the game in the different (place), not in the bench. In the end of the game he was there, then he went home, so there’s not an issue there.
“But I told him that in Manchester United everything is important, and the perception in a big club is really important, so he’s going to pay a dinner to all the team, and that’s it.”
Amorim was keen to defuse the situation with Garnacho, who posted an Instagram story of himself looking dejected following his substitution.
“He’s a young kid that will learn,” he said. “The important thing is that in the next morning he was speaking with me.”
Erik ten Hag, who was at the helm for United’s cup triumph last season before his dismissal in late October, earlier this week said modern footballers struggle with criticism.
Social media pitfalls
Amorim said it is tough for the current generation of players to deal with social media.
“I think it’s completely different for the players nowadays,” he said. “Before, it was two newspapers and nothing more. With social media, it’s completely different.
“They are so focused on social media. You can’t go to social media without seeing news or a photo or if you read something bad, you focus on that. You can have 100 good things, but then one bad thing and you focus on the bad thing.”
FA Cup holders United are desperate to stay on track for silverware this season following a disastrous Premier League campaign.
Amorim was also asked at Friday’s press conference about scathing critism of captain Bruno Fernandes by former United skipper Roy Keane, now a TV pundit.
Keane told The Overlap podcast that “talent is not enough” as he took aim at the Portugal midfielder’s leadership, describing him as “not a fighter”.
“I heard about that,” Amorim said. “I have a different opinion. Bruno is really important for us in the club, especially for me.
“I know sometimes he does things as a captain, like with his arms and sometimes you see it like criticising teammates. I think most of all it’s a lot of frustration for this year and the last year and the others.
“Everybody has an opinion. Roy Keane has big standards from him in his time and it’s normal to have an opinion.
“I have an opposite opinion, and I think it’s more important my opinion than Roy Keane because I am the coach and I think he is doing things quite well.”
