Manchester United traveled to The Hague tonight to take on AZ Alkmaar, a Dutch side that had to host this Europa League match 50 miles away from their badly damaged home stadium. Even with this disadvantage, and a plastic pitch to play on, they managed a point against United as the result was a goalless draw.
That means United are now winless in their last 10 away from Old Trafford, and Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remains in search of his first away win as permanent manager. After the match, he made some remarks that will not sit well with United supporters, as his overly optimistic tone doesn’t reflect the true temperature of the fan base right now.
“It’s a good point away from home against a difficult opponent on a difficult surface,” the Norwegian said after his side played a match where they failed to even register a shot on goal.
“We made many changes and I’m very pleased. It should have been a win. I’m fed up of talking about penalties we should have had.”
United are off to their worst start ever in the Premier League era. They currently sit 10th as they had to Newcastle for the PL weekend’s final match before the international break. In their last nine games, United have scored just seven times.
It’s easy to see why Solskjaer is quickly becoming the oddsmakers favorite in the “next Premier League manager sacked” prop betting. The draw also saw seldom used and largely ineffective forward Jesse Lingard get injured.
However, it’s not very serious.
“He tweaked his hamstring, so he didn’t feel like he could risk it. But hopefully it’s not too bad,” Solskjaer said before adding that the Englishman won’t likely be available for Sunday, but should be back for the Liverpool rivalry clash in a couple weeks.
Solskjaer can only continue “saying all the right things” for so long. His seat is warming and he needs results now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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