Bad plastic and not fantastic as Solskjaer suffers yet again
JUST as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feared, the plastic pitch here in Holland felt like a throwback to the 1980s. Sadly, so do this Manchester United team. Another day, another depressing demonstration of where United stand these days. Thursday night football — and the early kick-off at that — in a small, cramped stadium that had United playing on a crude artificial surface that Solskjaer described as one of the worst he has ever seen. He was right about that. The ball bounced ridiculously high and ran away from any player unfortunate enough not to receive an accurate pass. Alkmaar coped with it very well. United did not. If that took us back nearly 40 years to the days when they did away with grass at the likes of QPR, Preston and Luton, then so do United at the moment — back to a time when this great club were also-rans. ‘A bog standard team,’ Michael Owen described them on BT Sport last night and that’s being polite. United’s start in the league has been their worst for 30 years. In the Europa League, they have kicked off Group L with a laboured win over Astana, the champions of Kazakhstan, and now this, a wretched stalemate against AZ Alkmaar. There were no goals, no shots on target from United, and little of note aside from three penalty appeals. Yes, Solskjaer made eight changes, handing a full debut to Brandon Williams at left back in a line-up that also included teenagers Mason Greenwood and Angel Gomes. But right now the green shoots of recovery he talks about appear about as genuine as the plastic pitch here. It leaves the Norwegian without an away win in 10 games since the stunning comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in March, a mere memory that could not feel more different from what we witnessed here. Indeed, after two forgettable games in this competition, United are fortunate to have four points. So, what of those penalty appeals? United had the stronger of the three when substitute Marcus Rashford turned back inside Stijn Wuytens and was clipped by the Alkmaar defender 10 minutes from time. Lithuanian referee Gediminas Mazeika saw it differently and waved play on after exchanging quizzical looks with his assistant. There was no VAR to help United’s cause on this occasion. ‘I’m fed up with talking about penalties we should’ve had, but that’s a penalty 101 times out of 100,’ said Solskjaer. ‘The linesman can look straight at the tackle. He wipes his foot but unfortunately for us we didn’t get it. There’s no point me complaining, but these decisions will turn our way.’ Alkmaar had two appeals of their own. Fred, lamentably bad again, could easily have been penalised for bringing down Dani De Wit and Williams then appeared to handle a cross from Oussama Idrissa. Solskjaer compared it to the penalty United were denied against Arsenal on Monday night when Sokratis handled in the box. ‘Handball is always a discussion, but look at the Arsenal one we should have had on Monday,’ argued the United
boss. ‘You have so much time to move your hand out of the way.’ The nearest United came to a shot on target was when Greenwood had a chance to shoot in front of goal but Ron Vlaar, the former Aston Villa man still going strong at the age of 34, blocked it and United hardly threatened Marco Bizot’s goal again. David de Gea was significantly busier at the other end of the pitch. The Spaniard was beaten in the 10th minute when Myron Boadu flicked in Fredrik Midtsjo’s cross but the officials got that one right and ruled it out for offside. To compound Solskjaer’s problems, substitute Jesse Lingard limped off towards the end clutching his right hamstring, leaving United to finish the game with 10 men. Solskjaer continues to stay positive. ‘Of course, you create chances and score goals,’ he said. ‘There’s no point me saying, they know themselves. But it’s a good point away from home on a difficult surface.’