Manchester United players might be planning their exit if picked to start against Grimsby \u2013 but Ruben Amorim would welcome a new club-record signing.<\/p>\n
For the first time in over a decade, Manchester United<\/strong><\/a> have been thrown into the second round of the League Cup draw this season.<\/p>\n It presents a clear opportunity for Amorim to record his first win of the season \u2013 and just his 17th in 45 matches in charge.<\/p>\n But Manchester United have been here before: with a tactically rigid manager in his first full season; winless in their opening two Premier League games; with days remaining of the transfer window; and facing the ignominy of some early Carabao because of their lack of European football. And it did not go well.<\/p>\n The 4-0 defeat to League One side MK Dons in August 2014 still stands as one of the most embarrassing since Sir Alex Ferguson left<\/strong><\/a>, and really beyond that in the club\u2019s entire history.<\/p>\n Van Gaal, serenaded with chants of \u201cyou\u2019re getting sacked in the morning\u201d by the home fans at points throughout, was \u201cnot shocked\u201d by the manner or measure of defeat.<\/p>\n He also said \u201cit\u2019s very difficult when you start as manager in the Premier League with a home match loss and after that a draw and then lose a cup match, then for the fans it is very difficult to believe, still believe, in the philosophy of\u00a0Louis van Gaal. But you have to do that, you have to do that, because I am here to build a new team, and a new team is not built in one month.\u201d<\/p>\n Change the name and that is pretty much verbatim what Amorim will say when Jaze Kabia humbles them at Blundell Park on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n Van Gaal even pointed to the \u201cprocess\u201d of having to coach players on a three-at-the-back system. Grimsby are through and whoever starts for the visitors on the coast will be sold imminently.<\/p>\n There are some debatably positive omens. It only added to the hilarity and absurdity of the defeat that earlier in the day Manchester United announced the British record capture of Angel Di Maria, who would thankfully instantly solve all these problems by himself.<\/p>\n The \u201ccomplete fanny\u201d would likely have wilted<\/strong><\/a> at Stadium MK at the sight of Dean Lewington, Kyle McFadzean, Darren Potter and an 18-year-old Dele. This lot most certainly did.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n David de Gea The Spaniard was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year and the club\u2019s Player of the Year that campaign, adding either or both honour a few times over during the subsequent eight seasons he spent between the sticks.<\/p>\n And even still he was discarded as easily as a free lunch or actual employee<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0when it came to making and articulating an actual decision on his future when his final contract expired.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Marnick\u00a0Vermijl A player his father once said Sir Alex Ferguson predicted \u201cwould become a fixture in the Manchester United squad\u201d in fact did not; those 90 chastening minutes which culminated in his mistake to let Benik Afobe in to score a fourth were his last in the shirt.<\/p>\n Marnick left in a permanent move to Sheffield Wednesday the following winter and is currently having Afobe-related nightmares as a 33-year-old at third-tier Belgian club Thes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Keane \u201cI feel that when you play for United you don\u2019t get too many chances and when you do you\u2019ve got to take them,\u201d he said a few months later. \u201cBut the whole team didn\u2019t perform that day \u2013 it wasn\u2019t just one or two players. I was gutted for a few days afterwards and I was really disappointed in myself but I was hopeful I\u2019d get another chance. It didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps sensing that opportunities would not be forthcoming after his fifth and final game, Keane sought the safe haven offered by Sean Dyche. A loan move to Burnley was completed within the week and made permanent by the winter.<\/p>\n Manchester United did at least land a sizeable portion of his next transfer through a sell-on fee<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jonny Evans \u201cOnce we had to start chasing the game their superior fitness levels showed, because most of our team hadn\u2019t played in a while,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Yet Evans endured, sticking around for another season before leaving and frequently being labelled as a player who \u201cshould never have been allowed to leave\u201d<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n The MK Dons game was not mentioned in his return announcement almost a decade later.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Reece James James had scored twice in a pre-season friendly against LA Galaxy, the first game in charge for Louis van Gaal, but \u201cthe MK Dons game killed me and I can only fault myself for that\u201d.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Saidy Janko Janko is the Sporcle trap, shuffling through the same door as Fellaini on deadline day in summer 2013. And his solitary Manchester United career appearance was cut short as the half-time substitute sacrifice.<\/p>\n \u201cGiggsy said I did well and it was a bit unfortunate,\u201d Janko later claimed while confirmed Van Gaal \u201cdidn\u2019t speak to me\u201d. But the Dutchman \u201cwas not happy with the formation\u201d and \u201cI was the one who had to go off but at least I got a few minutes\u201d.<\/p>\n And to be fair, Manchester United went from 1-0 down at the break to a 4-0 loss without Janko. He was holding it all together.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Anderson But the sight of him struggling to keep track of Will Grigg as the closest central defender to the forward in an apparent three-at-the-back formation did sum up the latter part of his career in particular.<\/p>\n Anderson did play again for Manchester United, also summarily failing to impact a goalless draw with Burnley before heading back to Brazil at just 26.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Shinji Kagawa Manchester United were still holding MK Dons to a respectable goalless draw when he went off for Adnan Januzaj in what was the sad final appearance of an ultimately regretful spell at Old Trafford. Five days after the defeat he was back at Dortmund.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Nick Powell Van Gaal\u2019s side did draw level shortly thereafter but Wolfsburg immediately hit back to consign them to the Europa League.<\/p>\n It was Powell\u2019s penultimate Manchester United appearance, and first in 16 months since his hour or so against MK Dons. His teammates were justifiably \u2018bemused\u2019 and the media was glowing with righteous indignation too<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Javier Hernandez But that \u201c1% chance\u201d did manifest itself as two starts under the Dutchman, who hauled Hernandez off at half-time of a goalless draw on the opening day with Swansea and let him slug it out for all of the MK Dons embarrassment.<\/p>\n Hernandez found himself on loan at Real Madrid the following week and was gone for good within the year.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Danny Welbeck Van Gaal explained that he had \u201cgiven all the players a chance to convince me of their qualities\u201d but decided to offload Welbeck to Arsenal \u201cbecause of Falcao but also the youngsters who can fit in\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>The extent of the damage caused to the starting line-up named on that fateful evening will be laid bare in due course, but De Gea was typically immune to it.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>An injury crisis thrust Vermijl into the spotlight, two years after his first Manchester United appearance in a League Cup third-round win over Newcastle.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>While he is sometimes lumped in with those the club were wrong to sell, Keane stood precious little chance at Manchester United after a disastrous performance against League One opposition.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Arguably the worst individual performance on a collectively catastrophic evening came from the captain. Evans owned up to his part of the \u201csloppy mistakes\u201d and could be found on the scene of all four individual crimes.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Not he of Chelsea fame but the Football League journeyman who is currently holed up at Rotherham, left-back James was given his debut in inauspicious circumstances and never played for the club again.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>When asked to name the four signings David Moyes made at Manchester United, the universal first answer is Marouane Fellaini. Once the realisation hits that he lasted beyond January, the next guess tends to be Juan Mata. And some might even recall the great Guillermo Varela, who started that ludicrous game against Arsenal in 2016<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Four Premier League titles, a heroic penalty in the Champions League final<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and a legendary imbalance of absurd ability and non-existent work rate has ensured that Anderson\u2019s final Manchester United start can be consigned deep to the back of the collective conscience.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>It seems likely that Kagawa would be mildly grateful for the concussion he suffered in the opening stages of the game, seeing as it left him with no memory of what would transpire.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>It is the personal favourite post-Ferguson moment of many: when Manchester United, 2-1 down and needing to beat Wolfsburg to ensure a place in the Champions League knockouts, introduced Powell for Juan Mata around the hour mark.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>There is every reason to believe Van Gaal did tell Hernandez, as the Mexican later recounted, that he \u201conly had a 1% chance of playing in my position\u201d. That is entirely on brand with the manager\u2019s methods.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>But Welbeck is most frequently cited as the one who should never have been allowed to get away.<\/p>\n