Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim gave mixed messages over his decision to leave Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of his squad for Sunday’s Manchester derby but insisted there were no disciplinary issues. Eyebrows were raised when both forwards were omitted from the 20-man matchday squad at Manchester City although the decision was ultimately vindicated as a late double gave United a 2-1 win. Rashford played 56 minutes of Thursday’s 2-1 Europa League comeback win against Viktoria Plzen, where Garnacho was introduced as a late substitute.
But rather than feature against neighbours City in the Premier League on Sunday, the pair instead trained at the team’s training ground on Sunday morning.
Asked about his decision after the match at the Etihad, Amorim was firm that the decision was “not a disciplinary thing”, though he did allude to standards he expects at Old Trafford.
“Next week, next game, new life and they are fighting for the places,” he said.
“For me what is important is the performance in training, the performance in game, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with teammates and push teammates.
“Everything is important in our context, the beginning of something when we want to change a lot of things, when people in our club are losing their jobs. We have to put our standards really high, and for that they have to fight for their place in their team.
“Today we proved we can leave anybody out of the squad and you can manage to win if you play together.”
Amorim said he would be honest if there had been a disciplinary problem with any of his players.
“There are small details, there are some things that need to change,” the former Sporting Lisbon boss said.
“It is not a disciplinary thing, it’s the performance in training and in game and then I have to choose players.
“Jonny Evans did everything right and he was also at home. He is very important for us. If it was disciplinary I will say that here and it will be a bigger problem, but it was not that.
“Today they worked hard, they trained really hard. It’s a new week, new life, let’s see for the next one.”
A United source told the PA news agency that Garnacho’s absence had nothing do with allegations about team leaks.
Asked about those apparent leaks, Amorim said: “I know that story but I don’t know. I think it’s impossible to fix nowadays because there are a lot of people in the club, players talk with agents, you can talk with a friend, it’s hard to know.
“It’s not a good thing but let’s move on to the next one and if they find the next starting XI.”
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