Huddersfield vs Manchester United: Top-four spot slips out of reach for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men after draw
Huddersfield Town 1-1 Manchester United: This draw - against one of the poorest sides to grace the Premier League - will only raise further questions about the decision to hand Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the permanent job before the end of the campaign
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Your support makes all the difference.Back in December, during the final weeks of his reign, Jose Mourinho said Manchester United would need a ‘miracle’ to finish in the top four this season. Then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came along and, for three months, he seemed to be the miracle worker they required. How long ago those days seem now.
United’s hopes of playing in next season’s Champions League are finally over. That they should be terminated by a draw away to relegated Huddersfield Town - statistically, one of the poorest sides to grace the Premier League - will only raise further questions about the decision to hand Solskjaer the permanent job before the end of this campaign.
Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday meant that three points here would have given United realistic hopes of sneaking into the Champions League spots on the final weekend, no matter how Chelsea fared against Watford. Scott McTominay’s eighth-minute opener suggested that this would be a routine victory. It should have been a routine victory.
After all, in Huddersfield, United met a side with just 14 points, who had lost 22 of their last 24 and scored just nine goals at the John Smith’s Stadium all season. But this was also a team determined to pay tribute to outgoing chairman Dean Hoyle and enjoy this final home game of their two-year stay in the Premier League. Isaac Mbenza’s second-half equaliser will be one of the abiding memories of their stay.
For United, it is a day to forget. Like after the chastening defeat at Everton a fortnight ago, Gary Neville was scathing in his commentary on television. "There is nothing I like about this United team at all,” he said. “They are just awful. A despondent group of people.” One that, you feel, may not be kept together much longer.
Missing out on a place at European football’s top table will have repercussions for this squad. Paul Pogba, David de Gea and the absent Romelu Lukaku are among those considering their future away from the club. On recent evidence, a clear-out may be no bad thing.
It was fitting that the only goal of a first half low on quality came by way of an error. McTominay did well to pounce on Juninho Bacuna’s miscontrol in midfield and feint past Terence Kongolo but his effort from the edge of the penalty area should not have troubled Jonas Lossl. It was straight at him.
And yet the Huddersfield goalkeeper, recently reinstated to the starting line-up following an injury to Siewert’s first-choice Ben Hamer, allowed the shot to burst through his legs and find the far corner. It was the type of mistake that you expect a relegated team, one that has now conceded 75 goals this season, to make.
And from thereon, ahead after just eight minutes, United should have ensured of all three points. Paul Pogba came closest to scoring their second, hitting the crossbar with a looping header shortly before the break, but Solskjaer’s side were otherwise let down by a lack of coordination and composure in attack.
Huddersfield, meanwhile, were gradually growing into the game. Though they suffered the same problems of poor decision-making and incoherent interplay, their attack of Mbenza, Kerlan Grant and Alex Pritchard began taking up dangerous positions and stretching United’s defence.
The equaliser came on the hour mark and saw Lossl atone for his earlier error with a defence-splitting ball after coming to collect a corner. Luke Shaw had the opportunity to cut it out but missed the interception and lost his balance in the process, allowing Mbenza to rush in behind.
The Belgian took a moment, stared De Gea down, then applied a cool finish into the far corner. In celebrating the goal, he broke the corner flag, which ultimately led to eight minutes of time being added on. United were as ragged, as passive and ultimately as poor as they had been in the previous 90. The Champions League will not miss them.
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