Lingard injury scare as United miss target again
Manchester United still cannot win away and could not even manage a shot on target in Holland. To add to their woes Jesse Lingard appeared to suffer a hamstring injury.
The draw extended United’s winless run on the road to 10 games, but an away draw in the group stages of the Europa League offers a small hint at progress being made. It at least gives manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a flicker of optimism in the midst of a poor start to their Premier League campaign – be hard to beat first and worry about the rest after that.
This is not quite how things were envisaged during those excitable early days, when Solskjaer won his first eight games and boasted an overall record of 14 victories, two draws and three defeats.
It was then that the decision to turn the Norwegian into a permanent, rather than an interim manager, was made and things have not gone so well ever since. Was it done with too much haste? Almost certainly. Was it a short-term populist decision at the expense of a well thought out, long-term strategy? Possibly. But was it a mistake? That is a question that refuses to go away, even while we are being told that United have a plan; a vision; a strategy that looks beyond the next set of financial results.
Things have not really looked as though they are getting any better. If anything, it seems to have got worse, but the one thing that cannot be questioned through it all is Solskjaer’s commitment to and faith in the club’s young players.
There was a first start here for Brandon Williams at left-back, while fellow academy graduates Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood were deployed further up the pitch. Two 19-year-olds and an 18-year-old given a chance to learn, to grow and to work out how they are going to become the players United need them to be if their grand plan is going to work.
This was another useful lesson. AZ Alkmaar are a good team, third in the Eredivisie behind Ajax and PSV Eindhoven and able to view the Europa League as something exciting rather than a distraction. They also had the advantage of playing their home games on an artificial pitch that so often proves tricky for teams used to the feel of grass.
AZ looked the more threatening, the lively striker Myron Boadu had a goal ruled out for offside – there was no VAR to check – and Arne Slot’s team passed and moved with the fluidity you would expect of any half-decent Dutch side. United, though, contained them well, with Marcos Rojo a reassuring presence in the middle of a new-look back four, with Williams performing well on his full debut.
If AZ created more chances, it was United who missed the best of them in the first half. Daniel James retrieved a pass from Diogo Dalot others would have given up on as it headed out of play and he picked out Greenwood, unmarked, eight yards out, but his shot was blocked by Ron Vlaar. It was a tricky opportunity, however one top strikers would back themselves to score.
There was a penalty appeal for handball against Dalot when blocking Boadu’s shot, but other than a dangerous Yukinari Sugawara cross, that flew across the six-yard box, AZ played most of their football well away from United’s goal. The visitors offered little to get excited about, Marcus Rashford going down inside the area under a challenge from Stijn Wuytens and then blasting a free-kick over the bar.
No shots on target, but Solskjaer still felt his team should have had a penalty. “It’s a good point away from home against a difficult opponent on a difficult surface,” said Solskjaer. “We made many changes and I’m very pleased, but [feel] it should have been a win.”
United were given a late injury concern when Lingard, who had come on as a substitute with 13 minutes to go, limped off in added time. “He tweaked his hamstring, so he didn’t feel like he could risk it. But hopefully it’s not too bad,” Solskjaer said.