Watford 2 - 4 United
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| Two sublime goals by Ashley Young. Photo: Getty Images |
I thought that was a really good performance by United, our best away performance in a while. We haven't been impressive on the road so, despite Watford's poor home form, I expected a very tough test today. United scored three excellent goals in the space of fifteen minutes and it should have been four, and even five, when Rojo conceded a penalty and Watford got back in the game. To keep it to United's traditions of never doing it the easy way, we let the Hornets score the second with 5 minutes to go to ensure some very tense final minutes. Thankfully, a couple of minutes after Watford scored their second, Lingard got the ball inside our own half, ran 70m with it, and slotted past Gomes. A fine solo goal by the Englishman, capping off a very energetic display in the middle of the park.
Ashley Young was my man of the match. He never stopped running and scored two great goals during the first half. The first was a well taken shot and the second was a Beckham-esque freekick that caught Gomes on the wrong foot. I've already sung Young's praises in past blogs. What he has done to get to the position he is in now is admirable. Mourinho must be thanking the heavens for Young. If there was no Ashley, we'd have been in real trouble on the left.
Martial had a very good game and took his goal well but I, and we all, know how good that kid is. The player who really really surprised me today was Lindelof. He barely put a foot wrong as he built on another impressive performance vs. Brighton. Finally, it seems, Mourinho's faith in the Swede is paying off. Unfortunately, footballers live in a world where they're expected to perform from day one. I too expected an immediate result from the Swede. I had no doubt that Lindelof is a talented young man but he did look out of his depth when he played this season and I was rapidly losing my faith in him. But I should definitely know better....remember Vidic and Evra's start to their Man Utd career? Things are now looking rosier for Lindelof after two excellent performances at the back. Hopefully he can keep up this form. Yes, he'll make another mistake or two or three but that's part of the learning process. What we know now, though, is that he can play in the Premier League.
I've singled four players who had a very good game but I am pleased with all players. My only worry is how we lost the midfield when Matic was forced off the pitch through injury. Hopefully, there's nothing too serious. Matic can be sloppy sometimes but Herrera doesn't come close to the Serb's midfield qualities. With Arsenal and City on the horizon, we desperately need Matic to be fit.
Oh! I almost forgot Lukaku. He missed a sitter, true, but he was quite good as a number 10. He produced an assist (or was it two?) so we can't complain too much. But a striker should be scored goals and Lukaku badly needs one at the moment. There'll definitely be better days for him but I did notice, early on this season, that he's not the striker that many were making him out to be. You can't be a world beater with his touch. Luckily, his pace and strength can cover for that deficiency. We just have to realise that we have a very good striker but he's no Ruud.
Arsenal next. We need the three points. City will win their next two games and we can't let the gap between us expand to two digits so early in the season. Come on United!
— mufcgif (@mufcgif) November 28, 2017
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