Five star united
FIVE-STAR SHOWING BY SOLSKJAER’S MEN IN AUSTRIA
FROM a lock-in to a lock-out. United away-dayers are accustomed to collective isolation at continental stadiums after matches and this time the gathering was held outside.
Many Reds anoraks descended on Linz, £350 better off thanks to the club’s cost-covering gesture of goodwill, for United’s first ever fixture to be played behind closed doors.
There were half-and-half scarves on sale and the usuals were milling around for a vantage point.
The pitch was visible from the entrance gates to the stand opposite the open end. The Linz police allowed them to peer through.
Fireworks were let off outside as the players emerged before the sound of ‘U-N-I-T-E-D’ carried into the Linz Stadion. A player’s father had flown to Austria and was disappointed not to be permitted entry upon learning press accreditation was still granted.
The doors were not closed to corporate guests sitting in front of the press box, and they were partisan enough to break into a chant to the tune of Go West by the Pet Shop Boys in the 20th minute. They were quieter in the 28th minute.
Odion Ighalo larruped in his fourth United goal in eight appearances and it was his best yet – juggling the ball and meeting it on the half-volley, the shot kissing the underside of the crossbar on its way in. Pleasingly for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it was from another Bruno Fernandes pass – his fourth assist for the Reds – and the finish was so impressive the United substitutes watched the pitchside monitor to get a glimpse of the replays.
Ighalo’s cries of ‘Bruno’ had previously punctured the air with the Portuguese’s every advance.
The striker did not receive the ball on that occasion, yet already those two January additions have developed a productive telepathy.
Solskjaer parted with government health recommendations to high-five Ighalo upon his substitution.
The selection of Fernandes was telling in that his absence from the XI in Bruges last month was arguably the difference between United drawing and winning.
With him on the pitch from the off in Linz, the Reds had an authority about them that suggested the outcome was inevitable before Ighalo lashed the ball in.
At 5-0, the tie is so dead and buried LASK may decide against fulfilling the second leg, whenever that may be.
It is supposed to be next Thursday, yet Champions League ties for next week have already been cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic and major European leagues have suspended their schedules.
United have matched their unbeaten streak of 11 games at the start of Solskjaer’s caretaker tenure now and this was an inkling of how hollow feats can feel.
Daniel James netted his first United goal since August in the 58th minute yet had no supporters to run to like he did that month. The Reds players could hear the chanting outside the ground and that was as close as they got to the loyalists who made the trek.
No amount of cost-covering could compensate the real supporters for one fan’s attempt to manufacture a Unitedcentric atmosphere inside the ground.
The club’s chief financial officer Cliff Baty and club secretary Rebecca Britain were the only senior suits in attendance for a match the Austrian government stressed could hold no more than 500 people.
An atmosphere would only have salvaged an underwhelming occasion, despite LASK’s place at the summit of their league.
United were barely troubled all evening and it is now nine clean sheets in their last 11.
Luke Shaw, a constant during that run, emerged as something of a totem for Solskjaer, unwilling to rest the left-back even in midweek strolls from Derby to Linz.
United fell in Solskjaer’s 12th match against Paris Saint-Germain last year yet are auspiciously poised to claim another domestic double at Tottenham on Sunday. James reaped a tangible reward from his recent resurgence, cutting inside and arrowing the ball into the corner of the net.
His dubious decision-making has not been completely eradicated but the winger is only 22 in his first top-flight season and on an upward curve again after flagging in the winter.
United have momentum individually and collectively, yet are likely to be locked out of stadiums soon.
Fred’s threaded pass that Juan Mata converted was symptomatic of the Brazilian’s untouchable status in the United midfield and Mason Greenwood, maybe marginalised by Ighalo, smacked in his 12th goal and Andreas Pereira got in on the act with his fourth for the club.