The songs in support of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came from the tiny, restricted Manchester United away end in The Hague, but they were sung out of loyalty rather than gusto.
“Who put the ball in the Germans’ net, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,” they hollered, a 700-strong battalion with many more outside without tickets. Or “You are my Solskjaer…you make me happy when skies are grey.”
The skies were grey in the Netherlands' third city, but Solskjaer was, once again, unable to make United fans happy. Those fans still travel, still sell out every allocation even though their team haven’t won away since March.
Solskjaer’s team drew 0-0 with AZ Alkmaar, the side who are third in Eredevisie. They didn’t have a shot on goal, though AZ hardly threatened. There was nothing to fear about this United side, no star quality, no hallmarks of one of football’s great clubs. It was a ghost team, an artificial team on an artificial pitch.
In a city versed in staging trials, those who passed the rules which allowed United’s highly leveraged 2005 takeover to be a legal one should be put on the stand to be judged.
In confinement, 0-0 is not a bad result away from home with an injury-hit side. United have been beaten in Holland before. They lost on their previous visit, in 2016 against Feyenoord, when pressure was already building on Jose Mourinho after three consecutive defeats.
And the one before that, against PSV Eindhoven a year earlier, when pressure was building on Louis van Gaal, who’d be dismissed at the end of that season.
There’s increasing pressure on Solskjaer, a good man and a decent coach with a clear plan to make United great again. He’s building for the long term but he’s not getting the results he needs in the short term. Even if the results aren't coming, the foibles of an entertaining team would be welcomed after the drudgery of the football at the latter end of Van Gaal and Mourinho's reigns. That’s not happening either.
It will take time and the kind of patience once awarded to Sir Alex Ferguson if he’s going to make a decent fist of it, but the statistics for the Norwegian’s team this season are as damning as they were against Ferguson’s side in the darkest hours before the dawn of the 1990 FA Cup win.
They’ve not scored more than one goal in nine of the ten games. They’ve scored only seven since the 4-0 opening day win against Chelsea. It’s pitiful, gloomy football rather than entertainment.
Solskjaer went into the season with a light squad which has already been ravaged by injuries to half his preferred outfield starting players. Manchester United, for too long a club with a bloated overpaid squad, now have a stick-thin overpaid squad.
Solskjaer got rid of the players who didn’t want to be at the club – players fans were happy to see them go after an appalling end to last season.
He put faith into some of the many emerging talents of the youth system. He wants a clear pathway for young talents to be able to play first team football, but it’s difficult for young players to join a struggling team. Solskjaer was a young player who joined a champions side in 1996 and was surrounded by world-class footballers. The one world-class aspect about many of the current players is their salary.
United remain commercial trailblazers, the interest in their failings as much as their triumphs vast. The club have not been parsimonious, with vast contracts issued. Even now the club which is eighth in the Premier League have the second-highest wage bill in world football. It’s amusing for fans of every other club, but not for the United fans who support their team in vast numbers.
But the money has been squandered; Ed Woodward has overseen this and made critical errors. He’s lavishly remunerated to call the shots, but too many of the calls have been the wrong ones – even though fans were delighted when he sanctioned the signing of big names who’ve flopped.
Supporting a team isn’t only about the glory. To truly appreciate the good times you need to experience the bad. And it’s bad right now. Anyone can latch onto winners and United supporters have proved their worth in the darkest hours. Their team will rise again.
This United team who haven't won any of their last four games go to Newcastle on Sunday, a club which make United’s own theatrics seem like amateur dramatics. Amid his own draining optimism, Solskjaer takes a team with some of his best players including Paul Pogba.
Then there’s an international break before a home game against European champions Liverpool. United should have some of their injured players back by then, but the paper-thin confidence which grew after the pre-season has been battered.
