United only blossomed at Old Trafford and were eventually forced to draw 0-0 by Watford, and although the team is still fourth in the Premier League, it is only two points ahead of Arsenal in three games. This means that as long as the Gunners do not suffer three consecutive defeats, they can basically surpass the Red Devils. After the game, Lonnick was naturally dissatisfied with the result of the game, but he also had no choice, admitting that the coaching staff had done everything they could, the players could not score the ball, they could not.
"In the first half, we had five great chances and three or four in the second half." "Today we had plenty of chances to win the game, sometimes it was a matter of luck, we hit the upright, but we also had a couple of one-on-one shots with the goalkeeper that didn't go in," Lonnick said.
The data confirms Lonnick's claim that United had 22 shots on goal but only three on target, not too much ahead of Watford's 2 shots on target. But the Red Devils actually had a lot of great scoring opportunities, with an expected goal of 2.53 goals, while Watford only scored 0.51, but neither side ended up scoring. Watford have lost 17 games in the league this season but remain unbeaten in two games against Manchester United this season.
Lonnick said: "We, as coaches, can only help the team create enough opportunities. If we only have two or three chances against Watford, ask why. But today we had a clear number of chances to break the game, enough to win the game. Unfortunately, the team did everything except to hit the ball into the goal and score. We need to be sharper in front of the door, and if you waste so much, it will naturally be difficult to win. We were in full control of the whole game and there was little room for the opponent to fight back, but in the end, it was a disappointing afternoon and the result was not acceptable to everyone."
United's captain Bruno Fernandez alone missed three scoring opportunities, Erlanga also had a direct goalkeeper to deflect the ball, Cristiano Ronaldo hit the goalpost, and another goal was blown off the offside, and the Portuguese superstar has scored only one goal in the last 10 games. Lonnick admitted that United's goal problem can no longer be summed up by poor luck alone.
"It wasn't the only opportunity we missed, it wasn't a matter of luck, it was a matter of sharpness, efficiency and calmness in front of the door." "If someone had told me before the game that United could create so many good chances, I would have said: 'That's enough for us to score at least one or two goals.'" But we didn't score a single goal. If we look back at the last 3 months, we squandered a lot of opportunities, so we lost a lot of points in the draw, and we should have had 4 or 6 more points now, then the situation would be completely different."
"It felt like once again it was like two points we should have won easily, only to be thrown away. And, it's not the first time, we've lost two points in very important games on a number of occasions." Lonnick concluded.
Captain Fernandez also admitted he and his United teammates missed too many opportunities. 'We can create good scoring opportunities, I have two or three chances to score, but today the ball just doesn't score, it's really annoying.' B Fee said, "It reminds me of the FA Cup match against Middlesbrough, where we didn't qualify like we didn't win today. We should have scored, and that's the kind of game that we couldn't beat for a long time, and it turned out to be very bad for us."