A late free kick by midfielder Juan Mata earned Manchester United a laboured 1-0 home win over Watford after the visitors missed a flurry of chances in their Premier League clash on Wednesday.
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Manchester United are now 5th in the league, three points behind cross-city rivals Manchester City and 12 points behind leaders Leicester City, with 11 games still to be played this season. I thought the quality in the game was bad and they happened to be the better team on the day.
“It is always the agent that is doing that because it is interesting Man United is inquiring, but we said, “Okay, maybe Borthwick-Jackson and Varela can do the job”. We have four wins in a row, fantastic, but we have a very small selection of players at the moment.
Players are coming back but then, normally, they can not play a match because the rhythm of the game is much higher.
“The first time it is not so hard because the player is so focused”.
“But it also means it’s a full programme”.
“When we bought him I told Ed Woodward the positions he can play”.
“I would neither rule him in or rule him out, I just hope he can do well”, Hodgson added.
“I am very happy for the players because they have fought until the end, and they knew out on the pitch that our competitors were losing”, the Dutchman said in the post-match press conference.
“I feel sorry for Van Gaal a bit”, said Merson. When asked about the possibility of a substitution, the United manager replied: “Yes, that was true because he was limping at the time”.
Mata was ecstatic with the result and also spoke of his pride at leading the team in the absence of Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Chris Smalling.
After their well-publicised struggles under Louis van Gaal, United have suddenly hit a purple patch and travel to West Brom on the back of four straight wins.
“His name rang out when I was there but he was very young”, said Fletcher. They won 3-0 against City, and that is not nothing.
United are unlikely to win the league crown, but they are in contention for silverware as they remain in the FA Cup and the Europa League. I’ve known Mata since he was 14 when I was coaching the Under-19s at Valencia. But at Ajax, he always played right centre midfield or right centre-half.
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“I was the oldest the other day at 27 years old. He wanted to go off but I wanted him to stay on”.
