Watford welcomed Manchester United on game-week five of this season’s Premier League in what was promising to be an interesting encounter, at least in terms of result. The Hornets enjoyed an impressive start to the campaign winning all four of their previous games, while United suffered two highly disappointing defeats leading to manager Jose Mourinho getting himself under increased pressure.
Team News
Watford manager Javi Gracia sent out the same 11 players that faced Tottenham Hotspur two weeks earlier, meaning a 4-4-2 formation with Ben Foster in goal, Craig Cathcart and Christian Kabasele infront of him flanked by Jose Holebas and Daryl Janmaat. Abdoulaye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue held the fort in the middle of the park, helped by Ricardo Pereyra and Will Hughes in wide positions. Troy Deeney and Andre Gray were the two players furthest up.
Marouane Fellaini had a minor back problem that made him pull out of international duty earlier in the week, but the Belgian powerhouse eventually recovered in time for this game. Luke Shaw was forced off in England’s clash with Spain in the Nations League, and even though he was reportedly on-track for recovery, he had to sit this one out with Ashley Young taking his place. Ander Herrera was also out due to an ankle problem, while Marcus Rashford was suspended after being sent off in United’s win over Burnley in the previous round. Marcos Rojo and Diogo Dalot are stepping up their recovery by being a part of the club’s U-23 outfit.
David De Gea stood between the posts, and the back four of Young, Chris Smalling, Viktor Lindelof and Antonio Valencia stood before him. Fellaini anchored the midfield with Nemanja Matić and Paul Pogba a bit more advanced. Romelu Lukaku led the line flanked by Jesse Lingard and Alexis Sanchez.
The First Half
United had a good chance after only two minutes but Lukaku didn’t control Young’s pass from deep well enough and enabled Foster, once a United youngster, to dispossess him. Doucoure had an opportunity to shoot unobstructed from 20 yards at the other end almost immediately afterwards, but the shot went considerably wide.
The contest started as an open one. Watford looked to get Deeney to engage Smalling and Lindelof enough for Gray to try and get in behind. Meanwhile, United mostly attacked from wide areas, with Sanchez and Lingard cutting inside to open the space up for the runs of Young and Valencia. To counter the physicality and aerial prowess of Deeney and Gray, Mourinho appeared to have instructed Fellaini to sit deeper than usual. The midfielder often dropped as deep as the centre-backs, allowing the fullbacks to move further up as well as giving the Watford attackers a proper physical challenge.
The first real chance for the Hornets came in the 15th minute when Pereyra and Deeney combined well on the edge of the box. It ended with Deeney taking a strong shot that forced De Gea into a fine save.
It is something football shouldn’t be focusing on, but it still should be said that referee Mike Dean made a few questionable calls in the early stages. First he gave an advantage to Watford after Lingard mowed down Capoue in middle of the park, only to pull the foul back a few seconds later when the Hornets actually worked themselves into a good moment. A few minutes later he refused to give a foul by Lindelof on Gray, one which could have possibly warranted a red card as it denied the Watford forward a clear goalscoring opportunity.
In the 23rd minute Sanchez found the back of the net but was rightly ruled offside.
Watford sprang alive in the following period, pushing United back with some drive, but United could have taken the lead as De Gea’s goalkick found Lukaku who laid it off for Sanchez. Sanchez beat Kabasele and shot powerfully from a tight angle, but Foster made a great save.
However, in the 35th minute the visitors did take the lead. Young put in a tantalizing ball into the six-yard box, defenders hesitated and failed to keep a straight line, and Foster made a blunder which enabled Lukaku to guide it past him into the net.
The lead was doubled within three minutes. Pogba’s powerful shot earned a corner. It was taken by Young far across the box where it was won and headed into the six yards by Fellaini. In a manner of a world-class striker, centre-back Smalling controlled the ball with his chest and volleyed it under the crossbar from close range.
The unexpected scoreline completely unnerved the home team for a while, and United gained full control of the proceedings. They kept possession, circled around and hemmed the Hornets in, not allowing them to breathe, let alone fight back.
In the stoppage time, Lingard’s diagonal cross from the left found an unmarked run of Pogba and the Frenchman caught a perfect volley at the edge of six yards, but Foster was alert and closed the angle down.
The Second Half
Watford started working to turn the game around straight from the break. They kept United almost in their box for three minutes but they couldn’t capitalize. The visitors soon broke free and re-established control.
However, as the game progressed United’s focus seemed to be wavering a bit, and the Hornets were gradually growing into the contest. There were no real excitements until the 65th minute. Then, everything suddenly changed.
The home team arrived to the edge of United’s box, and the visitors didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory by allowing that to happen in the first place, and then their questionable defending allowed Doucoure to pick out Gray unmarked at 12 yards. Gray then easily beat De Gea with powerful shot under the bar.
Having pulled a goal back, the Hornets were now showing the same energy that helped them turn the game against Spurs around, and Mourinho felt he needed some fresh blood upfront to trouble the home team again. He replaced Lingard with Anthony Martial.
But United were now playing their usual unconvincing game, dropping deep and allowing the opposition to arrive to 30 yards from their goal mostly unchallenged. They looked for counterattacks through Martial, Lukaku and Sanchez, but at the back they were just hopeful they wouldn’t concede as Watford kept getting the ball into and around their box.
Deeney was once again fighting like a lion against Smalling and Lindelof, setting his teammates a good example as well as offering a powerful focal point in attack.
But 13 minutes from time United almost wrapped things up with a swift counterattack. In the end, Cathcart thwarted Sanchez at the crucial moment with a superb sliding tackle. Two minutes later Kabasele stopped Martial in a similar fashion.
Watford then continued their pressure on United who were now defending with 11 players. With eight minutes to go, Sanchez made way for Scott McTominay as Mourinho tried to slow the game down further.
Towards the end, United managed to keep the ball in their possession at times and even threaten again, while Watford’s attacks started looking more desperate by the minute. As the three minutes of stoppage time started running they gave their best go, while Mourinho went to kill their momentum with a late replacement – Eric Bailly for Valencia. In the dying seconds Matić earned a second booking and saw red for stopping the run of Hughes.
It all came down to one last free-kick. Holebas swung it in and Kabasele hit a very good header on target, but De Gea produced a save worthy of three points. The following corner missed everybody and went out of bounds, before the referee’s whistle marked the end of the game.
The Afterthought
It was another heroic attempt from Watford, but this time their drive and sheer strength of will weren’t enough to keep them on their terrific run. It seems the end of it was inevitable sooner or later, and their 12 points from five games is still nothing short of huge success.
It was interesting to see United play some very good football in patches of this game. It cannot be disputed that their quality thoroughly outweighs that of Watford, but the fact that David De Gea was once again forced to pull them out of a ditch in the last seconds of the contest will somewhat mar the overall impression of their, when all said and done, deserved victory.
Match Report
WATFORD: Foster 7, Kabasele 7.5, Cathcart 7 (88′ Success N/A), Janmaat 6.5 (72′ Kiko Fermenia 7.5), Holebas 7 (84′ Masina 7), Doucoure 7, Capoue 7, Pereyra 7.5, Hughes 7.5, Gray 7, Deeney 8.
MANCHESTER UNITED: De Gea 8, Smalling 7.5, Lindelof 7, Valencia 6.5 (90′ Bailly N/A), Young 7, Matić 7, Fellaini 7.5, Pogba 7, Lingard 7 (71′ Martial 6.5), Sanchez 7.5 (84′ Mc Tominay N/A), Lukaku 7.5.
GOALS: Lukaku 35′, Smalling 38′, Gray 65′.
YELLOW CARDS: Capoue 34′, Holebas 36, Matić 70′, 90′, Valencia 81′.
RED CARD: Matić 90′ (2nd yellow).
REFEREE: Mike Dean.
VENUE: Vicarage Road.
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