EPL 2016-17: Watford 3-1 Manchester United - 5 Talking Points

#5 United’s attack proves to be toothless

Rashford scored the only goal for United

After their midweek disaster at Feyenoord, it did not come as a surprise that Jose Mourinho decided to field the quartet of Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial and yet, the side failed to live up to its reputation as one of the most threatening in the league.

They were well contained by the trio of Craig Cathcart, Prodl and Miguel Britos in the air as well as on the ground and goal scoring chances were sporadic to come by during the game. Ibrahimovic, given his age, is not very mobile on the ball and Rooney too seems to have fallen behind by a few yards when it comes to pace.

United were heavily reliant on the likes of Martial and Rashford to get behind the Watford backline to create anything meaningful. Unfortunately, the injury to Martial meant the side had to bring on Ashley Young, who no longer is the kind of player he was at Aston Villa.

Though they created 7 goalscoring opportunities during the game, they did not look threatening enough and the same has been evident from the Manchester derby, where the side were presented with a lifeline in the game only due to Claudio Bravo’s error rather than its own attacking abilities.

After 3 consecutive losses in a season for the first time in over 10 years, Jose Mourinho will need to work out a stellar plan of action to avoid a further slide in his reputation.