Watford 1-2 Manchester United | Thoughts

There was a strong sense prior to kick off that United would struggle in Saturday's early kick off against Watford. The starting line-up, devoid of Martial and Rooney, looked peculiar without the presence of a natural striker, and if we needed that final push past the finish line and to turn to the bench for inspiration, then it would have to come in the form of 18 year old Marcus Rashford or 20 year old Sean Goss - neither of whom had kicked a ball for United's first team before.

However Memphis, starting his first game since the Arsenal defeat in October and with a point to prove, set the pace after just 10 minutes when he volleyed Herrera's cross beautifully into the roof of the net. From then on, we bossed the game and actually produced one of our most confident attacking displays of the season.



Although the opposition hardly threatened and struggled to break United's resilient defense (until Rojo's moment of madness that lead to the penalty, of course) this was a far more assured performance to what we have become accustomed to in recent weeks. Depay, who could have easily added to his opener, took his rare opportunity in the starting XI well, while Lingard's confidence seems to be increasing the more games he starts. Having said that, his inability to successfully chip Gomes to make it 2-0 when he found himself in a fantastic one-on-one situation was poor - an incident he felt obliged to reference on social media after the game.



The only reason he was able to make light of the situation however was largely down to two men: firstly De Gea, who's world class save denied Abdi's deflected effort, and of course, Bastian Schweinsteiger, who's drilled ball in the 90th minute that lead to Deeney's o.g. - minutes after the same player leveled it from the spot for Watford - brought back memories of 'Fergie Time'. It was an unnecessarily nervey end to the game given that we had the vast majority of possession as well as several decent chances to see the game off when it was still 1-0, but turning a straight forward job into a mammoth task is the United way, isn't it?



Two concerns came in the form of Herrera, who was subbed off injured late on and has now been ruled out of the PSV game on Wednesday (hopefully returning for the top of the table clash with...ahem...Leicester City), as well as Mata who I thought looked a little rusty, losing the ball too easily at times. Still, as with our win against WBA before the International break, there's no point picking out too many flaws in Saturday's victory as it was supplemented by some incredible results elsewhere - firstly there was Arsenal losing against the very same West Brom side who looked so average against United two weeks earlier, and Citeh getting spanked 4-1 by Liverpool in their heaviest league defeat at the Etihad.



From being fourth in the league and four points behind top placed Citeh, to second and one point ahead of them in just two games. Not only that - if we beat Leicester this weekend we go top. Football...bloody hell.





Good

Memphis. A very well taken goal and refreshing to see a United player these days taking shots from outside the area.



De Gea. The big man saved us once again.

........................

Bad

Conceding. Ending our run of 641 minutes without letting in a goal.