Man United stumbles to scoreless draw
05 October, 2019
Manchester United stuttered to a drab 0-0 draw against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League group stage on Thursday, while Steven Gerrard’s Rangers conceded an injury-time goal in a 2-1 loss at Swiss side Young Boys.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team again struggled badly in attack and failed to test Alkmaar goalkeeper Marco Bizot to leave United still searching for a first away win since March.
“The conditions were tough but I thought we did very well. It puts us in a good position,” said Solskjaer, whose side has scored just five goals in its past 10 away games.
Academy product Brandon Williams was handed his first start for United, who saw teenager Mason Greenwood denied by a superb block from Ron Vlaar on 30 minutes.
The game was played in The Hague, on an artificial surface described as “one of the worst” by Solskjaer, after a storm damaged Alkmaar’s home ground in August.
United was without Paul Pogba after the midfielder aggravated an ankle injury against Arsenal on Monday. He was also left out of the France squad named Thursday by Didier Deschamps.
Since its 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea on the opening day of the Premier League campaign, United has failed to score more than once in any match.
It rarely threatened in the Netherlands with substitute Jesse Lingard firing wide and Solskjaer reacting in disbelief when Marcus Rashford appeared to be chopped down in the penalty area.
Owen Wijndal and Oussama Idrissi forced David de Gea into a couple of smart saves at the other end as the draw left United level at four points in Group L with Partizan Belgrade, which won 2-1 away to Astana.
Colombian forward Alfredo Morelos put the Rangers ahead just before halftime in Bern, but the Young Boys leveled through Roger Assale before Christian Fassnacht grabbed a 93rd-minute winner for the host.
Goals from Jens Toornstra and Rick Karsdorp gave Feyenoord a 2-0 home victory over Porto in a clash of former European champions in the other match in Group G.
The Wolves, in their first European campaign since 1980, rebounded from an opening loss to Braga as Willy Boly’s stoppage-time goal earned them a 1-0 win at Besiktas.
“It’s huge for us. We don’t want to make up the numbers, we want to compete to win,” said Wolves captain Conor Coady.
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