Watford 3 - 1 Man UtdManchester United stunned as Watford are spot-on with late show
Home team scorersEtienne Capoue 34
Juan Zuniga 83
Troy Deeney 90 +4:11 Pen
Away team scorersMarcus Rashford 62
So much for all that early season optimism at Old Trafford. In the space of eight days, Manchester United have suffered three successive defeats that have provided an unwelcome reality check at a time when their rivals across the city are blazing a trail at the top of the Premier League.
Maybe breaking the transfer record, signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and appointing José Mourinho will not suddenly put everything right at United.
Mourinho claimed that he never got carried away in the first place, yet deep down the United manager must be alarmed to see how things have unravelled.
He pointed the finger at the officials after this chastening defeat at Watford and claimed that United had been on the wrong end of poor decisions against Manchester City and Feyenoord, too. However, there was also an acknowledgement that improvement has to come from within. Mourinho talked about how “some individuals probably feel too much pressure” and also highlighted the defensive vulnerability that an impressive Watford side brutally exposed.
Luke Shaw’s part in Watford’s second goal was singled out, with the United manager frustrated that the left-back had sat back rather than pressed more aggressively prior to Juan Camilo Zúñiga restoring the home team’s lead, yet there were plenty of other issues to address on an afternoon when Mourinho’s side finished the game looking ragged and disjointed.
Wayne Rooney, who was a picture of frustration throughout, finally took things too far in injury time and was booked for dissent by the referee, Michael Oliver. More misery was to follow for United a couple of minutes later when Marouane Fellaini tripped Zúñiga, giving Troy Deeney the chance to convert from the spot. His penalty was emphatic and sealed Watford’s first victory over United since September 1986.
While Mourinho was entitled to claim United looked the more likely team to win once Marcus Rashford had equalised, this was a far from convincing performance and too many players were on the periphery of the game. Paul Pogba hit the crossbar with a dipping shot in the first half but never did enough to impose himself and, rightly or wrongly, it is hard not to look at the Frenchman and expect so much more from the world’s most expensive footballer.
Ibrahimovic only came alive in the second half, when he had a hand in Rashford’s goal and also drew a superb save from Heurelho Gomes with a far-post header. Before that the Swede looked flat, much like the rest of a team who were fortunate not to concede long before Capoue’s opener.
Watford caught them cold and started superbly. The unmarked Sebastian Prödl headed narrowly wide just before Odion Ighalo filed an early contender for miss of the season. It was a chance that came about following a breakdown in communication between David de Gea and Chris Smalling. Both players challenged for the same high ball, De Gea was unable to gather cleanly and Ighalo inexplicably sliced wide with the goal yawning invitingly in front of him.
The home team carved open a third chance when Daryl Janmaat swung in a cross that Deeney, towering above Antonio Valencia, met with a powerful header that De Gea clawed away one-handed. There were only 17 minutes gone and it was tempting to wonder when United would grab hold of the game. They improved in that brief period when Pogba hit the woodwork but Watford continued to look dangerous and it was no surprise when Capoue scored.
Whether the goal should have been allowed to stand is a different matter.
Miguel Britos dispossessed Anthony Martial deep on the United left but seemed to foul the Frenchman before getting to the ball. Oliver, however, waved play on and with United exposed on their left flank, Janmaat escaped and produced the perfect cut-back for Capoue, who dispatched a low shot past De Gea to register his fourth goal in five league games.
Martial remained on the ground and was clearly in some distress following an incident that happened seven minutes earlier when he clashed heads with Janmaat. The United forward was unable to continue and questions will be asked as to whether he should have come back on to the pitch in the first place.
Mourinho sought to change things by replacing Valencia with Juan Mata and two minutes later United were level. Ibrahimovic exchanged passes with Rashford and sent a cross that dropped at the England international’s feet after bouncing off Valon Behrami. Swinging his left boot at the ball, Rashford made no mistake.
Although United were now on top and could have grabbed a winner but for Gomes’s save from Ibrahimovic, Watford deserve credit for refusing to settle for a point. Whatever Mourinho’s misgivings about Shaw’s defending, it was a lovely move down the Watford right involving Nordin Amrabat and Roberto Pereyra that created the chance for Zúñiga to beat De Gea only 53 seconds after coming off the bench.
Fellaini’s foul on the same player enabled Deeney to add a third Watford goal and follow up the win at West Ham United with an even more eye-catching result. “I’m happy for the fans,” Watford’s manager, Walter Mazzarri, said. “They told me it was 30 years since Watford have beaten Manchester United, so this win gives us a lot of satisfaction.”
Guardian