Ole Gunnar Solskjær is still looking for his first away win as Manchester United’s permanent manager. Newcastle on Sunday would seem an inviting opportunity but Solskjær is going to have to alter his team and his tactics from this limp showing to have any hope of beating even such demoralised opponents as Steve Bruce’s side.
This was just as presentable a chance to turn a corner, yet a United side sorely lacking in ambition and creativity were unable to take it, merely adapting to Alkmaar’s level and in the end being quite fortunate to escape with a draw.
Solskjær’s worries were compounded by Jesse Lingard limping off late on with a hamstring injury to leave United to see out the match with 10 men.
They were not exactly outplayed, in a borrowed stadium in front of a crowd slightly less than the stated capacity of 15,000, though the home side created the better chances and the captain for the day, David de Gea, was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers towards the end of the match. Marco Bizot in the Alkmaar goal was a virtual spectator throughout. While United had a late penalty claim waved away when Marcus Rashford came on, more damning was their failure to register a single attempt on target.
“It should have been a win, I’m fed up complaining about penalties we should have had,” Solskjær said, brazenly ignoring the fact that Alkmaar also had a couple of reasonable appeals turned down, in addition to managing the odd shot on target. “The linesman had a good view of the tackle on Marcus and he wasn’t interested. A better decision and we would all be sitting here smiling now, but it’s no good me going on about it. We just have to hope that one day the decisions will start going in our favour. We didn’t get to grips with the pitch until the second half, so I regard today as a good away point. If we win our home games and stay unbeaten away we should be all right in the group.”
Solskjaer’s concerns before the game had focused on the artificial surface, though it was clear from an early stage that Alkmaar could pose problems with the ball in the air. Myron Boadu had the ball in the net after 11 minutes from Fredrik Midtsjø’s cross. He was correctly ruled offside, yet De Gea would not have been impressed by his defenders allowing a free header. De Gea was called upon to make the first save of the game shortly afterwards, reacting well to Oussama Idrissi’s well-struck shot, and from the resulting corner Dani de Wit put another free header over the bar.
United had started well enough, with Daniel James not only playing but initially being deployed through the middle. After the first quarter passed without a visiting shot on target Solskjær had a rethink and put James out on the right, again not his best position, with Mason Greenwood taking up his expected central role. This almost brought immediate results, with Diogo Dalot sending James skipping down the right and Greenwood meeting his cross in the middle, only for the former Aston Villa defender Ron Vlaar to block a goalbound effort.
If that was encouraging it was also untypical of United’s first-half efforts. Alkmaar played the more effective counterattacking game, at least proving capable of moving the ball swiftly upfield and on several occasions entered the United area with purpose. United by comparison were ponderous and uninspired, retaining possession easily enough but failing to find any real penetration. At 34 Vlaar might have been viewed as a weak link in the Alkmaar defence, but the plodding, sideways game United played made it easy for the home side to stand their ground without being asked to run about too much.
Making his first start for United, the left-back Brandon Williams was lucky to get away with handball in the area early in the second half. Giving away a penalty would have spoiled an otherwise confident display, though the ball struck his arm and referees are now being told to ignore considerations of intent. Rashford was sent on after an hour in an attempt to give United a little more bite up front. In the end it was another substitute, Lingard, who shot wide with a late chance to win the match, before limping off. Rashford’s main contribution, a free-kick blasted wastefully high over the bar, was more in keeping with United’s overall performance. While Solskjær will always have Paris, in his present situation he will not be allowed to live on the memory indefinitely.
