Player Ratings : AZ Alkmaar VS Manchester United

David De Gea: 9

David De Gea was our best performer today. Was subject to an onslaught from the AZ attack but he looked in control at all times. My Man of the Match, which tells you a lot about the overall performance.

Diogo Dalot: 7

The young Portuguese was another of the few bright sparks in the game. Offensively, he posed our only attacking threat with his Beckham like crossing. If only the rest of the team played with the energy and tactical awareness that he did, we would’ve won. Defensively he wasn’t great and was sloppy but he was one of our best players.

Victor Lindelof: 6

Lindelof made some good blocks and some positive interceptions but wasn’t really extraordinary. However, the fact that we did get a clean sheet was down to the Swede and De Gea.

Marcos Rojo: 6

Rojo played in his favoured centre back and he slotted in well next to Lindelof. However, like the iceman he wasn’t extraordinary by any means.

Brandon Williams: 7

A full debut for the young Manchester lad. Williams at times lacked confidence in terms of when Stengs ran at him but his bravery to keep going in attack has to be commended. A performance to build on for the young left back.

Nemanja Matic: 3

For our experienced head in defensive midfield, Matic was non existent. The 31 year-old failed to control the game against a youthful Alkmaar side. A poor showing to be honest.

Fred: 4

The mere fact that Fred is our answer in Midfield shows how far we’ve fallen. He just doesn’t have the quality, you can see why Ole just doesn’t fancy him.

Juan Mata: 6

Again, as an experienced head in the team you can only be disappointed with Juan today. What was his actual position on the pitch today? Centre-mid? Attacking Midfield? Secondary striker? Answers on a postcard and that is down to Ole.

Angel Gomes: 6

One thing that is worrying me at the moment under Solskjaer is the positioning of his players. For me, Gomes is a number 8/10 who is not necessarily blessed with blistering pace so Ole plays him on the left. I fear that we will see a lot of our players suffer due to tactical confusion in the team right now. Gomes showed some real promise when he was in the middle, he kept the game ticking however he did go missing prior to being substituted.

Mason Greenwood: 5

Greenwood didn’t looked focused in the early stages of the game, balls into him bounced off and he was unable to keep the ball. Perhaps the Astro pitch was to blame but this was certainly his poorest performance in a red shirt.

Daniel James: 5

Not too dissimilar to the rest of the front three, the lack of a coherent tactical plan saw Daniel James playing up front, right next to Greenwood at times. James will always try to be positive when he gets the ball but it just wasn’t working out for him today.

Substitutions

Marcus Rashford: 5

Rashford came on for a poor Mason Greenwood and didn’t make any sort of impact on the game. His cameo was summed up in the free kick on the left wing that he lofted into the stand be hind the goal. The set piece was a chance to win the spoils in dry match up.

Jesse Lingard: n/a

Within moments of entering the field of play Lingard pulled up with a hamstring injury. More news on that to follow.

Scott McTominay: 7

Strangely, the substitute with the least time had the biggest impact. McTominay came on and was positive in his passing which led to Lingards shot that was whiskers wide.