Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard was delighted to get three points from the team’s trip to Watford but admitted he could have done better. They have mostly just been hard to watch during Louis van Gaal’s short time at the club.
Advertisement
The erstwhile England U21 worldwide has a shoot accuracy of 57% in the Premier League this season, and will hope to feature in Wednesday’s Champions League game at home to PSV Eindhoven. “We didn’t play with real swagger today but we showed character and fought until the final seconds”. Among the visiting supporters at Vicarage Road, broiling in celebration as a 90th-minute own goal crawled over the line, the importance of the moment was not lost.
642 minutes without conceding a goal; the last we conceded was a rebound from a penalty in Moscow and here against Watford we conceded from the spot.
Yet Deeney’s equaliser acted as a spur for United.
In a manner of which Alex Ferguson would have been proud, United went straight up the other end and snatched all three points, as Deeney went from hero to villain and turned the ball into his own net following a Bastian Schweinsteiger cross. Should we now be anticipating Louis Time? Captain Wayne Rooney is utterly ineffectual, star summer signing Memphis Depay has had little impact, while wallet-busting surprise Anthony Martial is the only individual to offer anything like the pace and spirit we expect in that red shirt. Herrera’s bending cross reached Depay, and he punished Watford’s woeful marking by cushioning a firm volley past Heurelho Gomes.
In the turgid 0-0 derby draw with Manchester City in late October, United couldn’t even muster a single shot on goal during the entire first half.
Lingard, Mata and Depay combined just past the hour mark.
The Manchester Evening News reports that Phil Jones and Ander Herrera were both forced off during the victory over Watford, while the Mirror claims that Juan Mata also collected a knock at Vicarage Road.
“Rooney is ill and illness is a matter of days, not weeks”, added van Gaal.
Van Gaal also spoke about Manchester United’s title ambitions.
The response to the winning goal was instructive.
Van Gaal, however, was still not fully impressed by his team’s offensive play and believes they should be more clinical when they are in possession of the ball. In fact, only Crystal Palace (14) have scored fewer goals than United (19) of teams in the top half of the table.
Advertisement
“I think every young player goes through things but I keep training and enjoy the training sessions”, Memphis told the club’s website (www.manutd.com). “But these players are mostly ungettable”.
