‘Not Good Enough’ - Dalot speaks after Manchester United’s humiliating cup exit

Overview

• Manchester United suffered a humiliating Carabao Cup exit.
• Speaking about the result, United right-back Diogo Dalot admitted that the team simply did not do enough.
• United's next match is against Burnley in the Premier League on August 30, 2025. 

Manchester United suffered a humiliating Carabao Cup exit as League Two side Grimsby Town knocked them out. After a 2-2 draw at the end of regulation time, Grimsby held their nerves in the penalty shootout and won 12-11. Speaking about the result, United right-back Diogo Dalot admitted that the team simply did not do enough, especially in the first half.

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"Not good enough clearly, what we did especially in the first half. I think we gave the game to them, clearly, straight away, exactly what they wanted. Win duels, second balls, set plays,” he said. "We fought back but I think that was the minimum that we could show to the fans that travelled today, for ourselves, for the club, but clearly not good enough. We cannot come here and expect that it's going to be easy, because we know already these competitions, these clubs.”

The Portuguese defender also gave credit to Grimsby for the way they fought and ground out the result. "Credit also [to them] because they fought really hard to deserve to go through, but it shouldn't be enough to win against us because we should have shown much more," he added.

"Show the approach has to be different" - Dalot

While speaking to MUTV, Dalot stressed that United should have had enough quality to go past Grimsby but failed to deliver.

"Not just the quality, but obviously the minimum standards that you ask in every game, the approach to the game. I think the best way for us to have respected Grimsby today was to come here and play 100%. I think that's what we need to improve for the future. I don't want to go through the same sentence time and again. We just have to show [that] and we just lost one opportunity today to show that we deserve to be here," he said.

United’s poor start to the season continues. Three games in, they are still winless. They lost to Arsenal and drew against Fulham in the Premier League before this shock cup defeat. Their next chance to bounce back will be against Burnley on August 30, 2025.

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Even Dalot concluded by pointing to that fixture as a test of their response: "The best way we can show it is on Saturday. Show the approach has to be different, the quality has to be different and win the game. I think that's what the fans want."