In the 22nd round of the 2021-22 Premier League season, Manchester United took on Aston Villa away. Compared with the FA Cup meeting five days ago, Lonnick continued to win the same line of thinking, continuing to line up the 4231 formation, but due to the suspension of Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay, Telles and Nemanja Matic entered the starting line. Erlanga started in place of injured Marcus Rashford, and Cristiano Ronaldo continued to be sidelined due to injury.
This is the first time since Ronnick took office that Ronaldo has been missing in the league, so United's performance on the offensive end has also attracted much attention. To be honest, Manchester United performed well in the first half of this game. After the opening, Manchester United dominated the counter-attack and occupied the initiative of the game. In Ronaldo's absence, B Fee became the absolute offensive core, and the ball was mainly dominated by him when the team turned to attack.
United played very actively on the left today and the main threat came from the left. In the 6th minute, United scored from a distance with a set-piece created on the left. Although there is an element of luck, it is also the first time this season that United has scored with a set-piece, breaking the embarrassment of 0; in the 66th minute of the second half, after Fred assisted B Fee to score the second goal, Manchester United's instant winning percentage exceeded 90%. In addition, in the 5 rounds of the league after Lonnick took office, Manchester United did not concede more than 2 goals in a single game, and it can be said that 3 points were basically in hand.
I believe Manchester United fans will remember that in the pre-match press conference of this match, Lonnick said: "I was surprised by the diversity of physical fitness and game tactics of the middle and lower Premier League teams. "But it can only be said that in addition to misjudging the tactical diversity of premier league coaches, Lonnick is also ill-prepared for the intensity of the premier league's game, which is reflected in the on-the-spot response.
After B Fee scored his second goal, Gerald waved the flag and Coutinho, who was rushing in the winter window, took on the team. The Premier League is where he really became famous, so he didn't feel a little uncomfortable with the rhythm here and quickly integrated into the game. In the 76th minute, Gerrard continued to put his strength in midfield, replacing The underperforming Danny Ince with Chukuemeka to continue to strengthen the battle for midfield. Gerrard's 2 substitutions were Vera blowing the horn of the counter-attack, and the pressing force since then has increased significantly, and Manchester United have begun to be fully passive, and the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse.
Just a minute later, Coutinho assisted Ramsey and pulled a goal back. Lonnick reacted, but only made a substitution, replacing Erlanga with Sancho, ignoring the midfield losses, especially Nemanja Matic. The 33-year-old has clearly been unable to keep up with the rhythm of the other side, and Fred cannot provide enough protection around him. But Lonnick didn't replace Jesse Lingard and Van der Beek at the same time until the 89th minute of the game, but by this time the score had become 2-2, and it was too late for United to rewrite the score, watching the upcoming 3 points become 1 point.
After the game, Lonnick's substitution was also criticized. "It was said before that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's on-the-spot adaptability is not good, and now it seems that Lonnick is not necessarily better than sols." "It seems that Lonnick's ability is really exaggerated, if it is really strong, it is impossible not to have brought the giants." "Look at Gerrard on the other side, several substitutions are very masterful, envy Liverpool!" ”......
In fact, It's not the first time That Lonnick's substitution has been questioned. In the past 4 games, Ronnick has begun to suffer from frequent illnesses. Against Newcastle, Lonnick did not replace the worst-performing B-fee and the obviously problematic Rashford; against Burnley, United took an early lead to 3-1. But in addition to Varane replacing the injured Bailey, Lonnick's response to the passive situation was significantly slower after that, and he did not make the second substitution until 81 minutes, the last substitution occurred in the 90 minutes, Fred replaced C Ronaldo, what is the significance?
Against Wolves, Lonnick actually replaced Greenwood, the best performer in the front court, and the B fee on the court not only did not play the desired tactical value, but let his attack lose the most threatening point, and was finally killed by Wolves.
With four consecutive bad substitutions, the doubts on Lonnick have once again heated up. For Lonnick, it was a big deal to retire to the second tier as a consultant after the end of the season. But for Manchester United, this season, let alone the 4, even the top 6 is really hanging. As of now, they have scored 32 points in 20 rounds, ranking 7th. West Ham, who are one round behind fourth place, are five points behind, but the real opponent is Tottenham.
After Conte, who United did not look up to, came to power, Spurs opened the scoring mode. So far, Conte has played 8 league games unbeaten, scoring 18 points. Currently, Tottenham Hotspur is one point ahead of Manchester United in the second round of the junior round. In addition, there are Arsenal, which have 3 points more than Manchester United in the same round of 20 rounds, Arteta's team does not have a high winning percentage against BIG6 teams, but it is much more stable against middle and lower teams than Manchester United.
United stumbled through this difficult schedule, and when the league entered March, a two-month spanning "devil's schedule" began. In 7 league rounds, 6 opponents are the upper middle and upper teams in the table, including Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Leicester City one after another, and Lonnick's ability to lead the team is really difficult to be optimistic.