Manchester United's Premier League defeat tottenham Hotspur has allowed interim manager Ronnick to regain his confidence, and before the life-and-death battle between the Champions League and Atletico, he was full of confidence and alluded to the employment of former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, believing that the Norwegian's personnel mismanagement dragged down the new signings Sancho and Varane who joined this season.
Varane joined United last summer for £42m, but has been sidelined several times due to various injuries. In the first five weeks of the season, Varane missed more than two weeks with a groin injury, and then he returned from injury and immediately dressed up for the Champions League game away to Atalanta. However, due to a hamstring injury, he only played the first half before he had to leave the field halfway through the field, and was absent for another 6 weeks due to injury.
Since Ronnick took office, he has been more cautious about Varane's use, and he has also criticized the commander for hastily allowing the injured man to make an early comeback.
"As I said, it is good to have Raphael (Varane) fully recover again. We take care of him, he takes care of himself, doesn't come back too early, and now he seems healthier. He was very important, but when Lindlev was playing, we also won a lot of games, he played well and also didn't concede a few games. Now, we have top players at centre-back and it's not easy for me to make a choice tomorrow."
Not only Varane, Solskjaer chased the £73 million winger Sancho, who had only won for two years, and also played poorly under him, scoring zero goals and zero assists for a long time, and was ridiculed by the British media. Now, the 21-year-old Sancho has become one of the players who have benefited most since Ronnick took charge, scoring 2 goals and assisting 3 times in the last 6 Premier League games, and recently won The Manchester United's Player of the Month of February.
"Now he's back to the Sancho I've known since he was 18 years old, and yes, he hasn't always been that way this season, honestly, in the weeks or even months before I took charge," Lonnick said. Now, Sancho is closer to the Sancho I know in Germany, and ultimately, it depends on confidence."
Manchester United's interim manager also hinted that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer failed to integrate the team as a whole, resulting in Sancho as a new signing unable to gain a foothold. "Game time, confidence; confidence, game time, it's complementary. He has been showing a very high level in the past, but we can only succeed if the team succeeds. If you don't succeed and the whole team doesn't play well, can you tell me about a player who can stand alone? It's impossible, only to improve the performance of the whole team first, as it was against Tottenham Hotspur."
Although Lonnick did not name names, he undoubtedly referred to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's way of employing people. The data shows that during his tenure, Sancho only played the full game in the Premier League once, and it was only in his last game before the Norwegians left school. Solskjaer also locked Sancho on the left, in contrast to Lonnick, who allowed him more freedom to switch positions on both wings.
In the second leg of The Champions League quarter-final between Manchester United and Atletico, Ronnick will need Sancho and Varane to play again. Rival manager Diego Simeone is also a cunning tactical master, and when he was a player, he used small moves to lure England's Manchester United superstar David Beckham to leave the world cup in France in 1998. At the pre-match press conference, the Argentine played psychological warfare.
Simone sat down, tested that the sound equipment was all right, and then picked up the microphone with MuTV, the official television station of Manchester United, and put it aside. The Manchester United photographer expressed his displeasure, with the Atletico boss responding: "Unpredictable things can happen in the game!"