After previous Europa League struggle against Astana, with the Red Devils crawling to a 1-0 victory, and a more than frustrating draw at home to former Premier League titans Arsenal, Manchester United have a task ahead of themselves as they set out to face 3rd in the Eredivisie, AZ Alkmaar, in this week’s Europa league clash in the Netherlands.
With injuries still plaguing key players such as Wan-Bissaka being a doubt, and Shaw not yet showing signs of match fitness since his return to first team football, we can likely expect to a see a line-up similar to recent matches, consisting of a makeshift defence (we’ve been starting one for nearly a decade to be fair), leaving us potentially prone to some of Alkmaar’s rapid transitions on the counter, alongside the recurring characteristic of a lack of cutting edge in the final third, due to the absence of Anthony Martial (confirmed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer).
Manchester United currently sit top of group L in the Europa League, two points clear of FK Partizan and Alkmaar, in a group they’re expected to dominate. However, the shaky nature of the performance against Astana suggests we may be in for more of a challenge than originally expected, and it’s safe to say AZ Alkmaar offer a much higher standard of football to challenge United than the Kazakh club.
A quality that Alkmaar have that may trouble United, is the fact that they have bountiful sources of goals and assists in their squad, with Dutch-born, Moroccan winger, Oussama Idrissi already bagging 6 goals in 8 appearances this season, 18 year old Centre-forward Myron Boadu netting four, and assisting 4 (one goal contribution per game) and centre midfielder Teun Koopmeiners also bagging 4 himself. This spread of goals and assists across the Alkmaar squad, means the Red Devils already shaky, second string defence, will most certainly having a job on their hands, trying to contain all the threats that Alkmaar offer in the offensive third.
Despite how good our Dutch opposition appear on paper, it can’t be denied that they should still prove to be easy opponents for Manchester United to sweep aside, with Scott Mctominay seemingly expanding on his game further and further each match, striking for United against Arsenal with a top-left corner longshot, which at the time gave Manchester United the lead. With the Scotsman’s domineering presence in the midfield, hopefully shielding our backline, some extra clinical finishing would likely see Manchester United take the game, with many a fan calling for a full ninety minutes for Mason Greenwood, on the back of Martial’s injury, and Rashford not taking the chances that have been presented to him in recent games. Let’s trust in the youth, to bear the fruit of 3 points for Manchester United