Manchester United won 1-0 against bottom team Norwich, although winning but not performing satisfactorily, the home team had more scoring opportunities, fortunately De Gea guarded the Red Devils' goal. After the game, Lonnick expressed dissatisfaction with some of the problems of United players, notably the lack of intensity.
Speaking of the game itself, Lonnick believes United have improved, but there is one issue that needs to be addressed, and that is confrontation and body language on the pitch. 'We conceded the most goals in the top 10 teams in the Premier League and now, while the team has two clean sheets, which is a good thing, we still need to improve our defence on the road, especially against teams with physically constructed play and opponents like Norwich who are attacking at a high level.
Many of United's players lack the mentality to confront each other, often losing in confrontations and waving their arms to express their dissatisfaction. Lonnick said after the game: "I told Dean (Smith) that Norwich didn't play like the bottom team at all. In the second half, the body language in our front line improved, but it still gave the opponents a lot of chances, and in the end it was De Gea who won the game for the team. On the offensive side, body language, intensity, and aggressiveness did not reach the level they had when they were against crystal palaces. I'm not just talking about two strikers, but also two No. 10 players. Bumping into Norwich's style makes it worse."
Longnick elaborated: "It's also a matter of body language and physical fitness, which is one of the main issues we can do better. It was tough to win this game and there were some parts of the game where we did a good job. Again it was very important to keep a clean sheet, thanks to De Gea, the most important thing was to take all three points. But in other links, we lacked a certain intensity, such as body language, we lacked the aggressiveness of Norwich, especially on the front line. We could have played harder and more physically. I would be more satisfied if we could give our opponents fewer chances, fewer free kicks and corners, and I think we gave them too many set-pieces, especially in the second half."
The Manchester United manager stressed that the team did not have enough time to improve their technical tactics, so the mental attitude is very important. "I mean, tactically, we don't have much time to improve our tactics. I don't think the problem with Norwich is tactics or distance between teammates, but more because of one-on-one, second-place drop-point competition in attack and defense. Whoever grabs more of the second point and who wins more one-on-one confrontations is the key to the game and our formation."
United have only two days to prepare for the next round of the Premier League, and Lonnick reminded players to recover in time for another physical encounter. "Ultimately, we need to deal with this level of confrontation and be physically prepared, there is still room for improvement in this area." In 3 days, we will play our next away game at Brentford and it will not be easy."
Manchester United star Neville also said: "Any match against any opponent in the Premier League will bring real trouble to Manchester United. The team will be away to Brentford on Tuesday and they will have to play better or they will be beaten. Lonnick may think the week was good, but United have to improve a lot to be productive in the next game."
Norwich boss Dean Smith thinks the penalty decision is a bit too harsh: "You don't always get the results you deserve. Penalty awards are somewhat dubious, is the physical contact in the penalty area that serious? Yes, Aarons's arm was on the other's shoulder, but was that enough to make him fall to the ground? I don't think it's enough. Overall, the opponents benefited, and Marcus Rashford also won a free-kick in the first half."