United refused to accept defeat after being pegged back by Deeney’s penalty, digging in deep to claim a vital three points on an afternoon which saw both Arsenal and Manchester City succumb to defeat. Their movement was more unpredictable at Vicarage Road and Watford found space in the final 30 minutes. “There are things that are very clear”, said Flores. Deeney fired home the resulting spot-kick but just three minutes later (on 90 mins), the Watford striker would put through divert Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cut back into his own net. “Yeah, yeah you could say that if you want”.
Advertisement
Seconds after smashing home his side’s equaliser with a magnificently uncomplicated penalty, Deeney became the holder of the unwanted record of the shortest time between scoring for your own team and the opposition in Premier League history.
On 11 minutes, Herrera whipped in a cross from the right and Depay connected with a first-time left-footed volley into the top corner.
United manager Louis van Gaal, who said on Friday that his compatriot Depay needed to do more to convince him after a disappointing start to his United career, was delighted with the 21-year-old Dutchman’s response and his first goal for nearly two months.
Depay could have sealed the game for the visitors midway through the second half when his shot from the left went just wide after good work from Lingard and Mata. Their pace on the break troubled Watford, although a few wasteful finishing nearly let the hosts off the hook.
Manchester United expect to be without Phil Jones and Ander Herrera against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday and could have up to 10 players in total missing for the Champions League clash.
The game took a turn soon after when Herrera, while chasing down a ball, pulled up and instantly signalled to the bench to come off, forcing Van Gaal to bring Marcos Rojo on with Daley Blind moving into midfield.
They visit Leicester on Saturday and if they need any inspiration, they should look back to 14 October 14th 2000.
Perhaps van Gaal’s decision has been prompted by United’s uncertain performance against Watford in the Premier League on Saturday.
Advertisement
There’s hope Rooney, Martial and Mata will be fit to face PSV at Old Trafford this week as United look to book their place in the Champions League knock-out stages. We didn’t play so well in ball possession, but we did play very well when the opposition had the ball. Many will point to De Gea as being the main reason for this and that wouldn’t be a bad call but the rest of the team have played their part too, Smalling in particular has been as big part of this.
