Memphis was hauled off at half-time in a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal and has since lost his place to rising young England star Jesse Lingard.
Advertisement
The forced change only really looked to benefit Watford, who grew into the game and were on the front foot for the majority of the second half. Lingard shoots, Gomes palms it out.
Van Gaal will feel the manner of victory should have been fare easier, particularly after their electric start presented them the lead after just 10 minutes. Defensively, he was full of praise for his team, who conceded in the Premier League for the first time in 641 minutes of football. We didn’t play so well in ball possession, but we did play very well when the opposition had the ball.
The former PSV Eindhoven star opened the scoring and United were on the course to win the match, until Watford for given a chance to equalise from the penalty spot.
Watford had chances of their own, but nothing of real merit in the first half. They can hardly afford any more attacking absentees.
David de Gea is a true hero: The Manchester United goalkeeper showed his skills as a top player once again after making some wonderful saves in the game.
Rooney hopes to have recovered from the bug that kept him out of the win at Watford while Mata and Martial have the best chance of recovering in time to figure in the Group B game.
“I was amazed at the spirit in our team”, van Gaal said.
“That says everything about them and is typical of the way Manchester United have played this season”, Scholes told BT Sport, as quoted by the Mirror. We have a lot of injuries. “We want the three points”, the Watford player explained.
Survival is Watford’s priority and boss Quique Sanchez Flores is trying to find the right balance to do it. “We had already injuries”.
Advertisement
Juan Mata, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Jesse Lingard all start as well, while youngsters Sean Goss and Marcus Rashford making the bench. He played a very good game in the first half and the second half a little bit less because he has been out of the team for six weeks.
