Manchester United interim manager Ralph Lonnick seems to have recently become a "repeating machine", because the team's three consecutive games have the same trend and results, all of which are many opportunities in the first half, but only scored one goal, and finally forced to equalize by the opponent's half-time score.
In the post-match press conference, Lonnick said helplessly: "Unfortunately, we have once again repeated the situation of the last two games. Very good first half, or specifically the first 30 minutes. We played the pre-match deployment. It is to avoid the opponent's pressing, attack the gap behind them, and score goals. But from the end of the first half, we couldn't do it again. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, we lost the formation, the defense went wrong and the opponent scored. In the last 20 minutes of the game, Vaughn had enough chances to score again, expecting to score higher goals than his opponents, but in the end he did not get the result he deserved."
Why United failed to hold the win, Lonnick blamed the drop in intensity and the failure to follow through the deployment at half-time.
"On the one hand, we have to respect the opponent, Southampton played the same game against Tottenham, it was not easy to deal with. Moreover, we lose our cool and make the wrong decisions, sometimes under pressure, sometimes unforced, and this is something that must be improved. In the last 6 games, we have lost the lead 4 times. Against Villa, Burnley and today, we were all 1-0 or even 2-0 ahead, but we conceded six points in three games. This can happen once, but it should never happen 3 times, and if we had scored 4 more points, we would be in a very different situation now."
Lonnick added: "We tell the players exactly that they must remain aggressive, that the formation must be compact and that they should not be given any space to make the offensive and defensive transitions. That's what we tell the players at halftime, and sadly, the performance on the pitch is another matter. It's also something we have to do better, become more lethal, be more decisive, and make sure we don't lose points like we did today. We have to look ahead and do better against Brighton on Tuesday."
The Manchester United manager's remarks are almost no different from the previous two games, which may stem from his "interim manager" status, after all, this is a transitional coach, and it is likely that he will no longer lead the team next season, so it is naturally difficult to form a deterrent to the players and lack authority.
However, the new Manchester United president, Richard Arnold, appears intent on supporting Ronnick, deliberately choosing Ajax boss Tenhag as his official manager for next season against the players' wishes. Tenhag is a coaching candidate supported by Ronnick, while players in the Manchester United dressing room prefer Paris Saint-Germain's Pochettino.
According to the British "Sun" newspaper, Alexander-Arnold believes that the power of Manchester United players has been too great, and believes that Tenhag is suitable for the manager of the club and team, the latter is good at developing young, talented core players and allowing players who have performed poorly in other European teams to play a role in their own teams.