Manchester United 2-1 Watford: 5 Talking Points & Tactical Analysis

#2: Watford might feel hard done by at the end

Javi Gracia had drawn out the perfect plan.

To be fair, United got through in the end through a great piece of individual brilliance and Watford’s lack of composure in both ends of the box. I say this because; the Hornets were clearly the better team in terms of working with the possession.

They were much more direct, creative and constantly knocked the door to breach United’s resilience. Each of their outfield players had their plans and targets set on the field and managed to constantly achieve that for a long period of time in the game.

Troy Deeney led the forward line to perfection, as he wandered around at some times in search of recovering the ball as their team pressed collectively whenever a certain United player was caught alone in possession of the ball.

They looked to press their adversaries in packs and were quick and agile enough to dominate the duo of Matic and Pogba in central midfield. They definitely had a definite, set game plan that they had decided to follow, to specifically target the weaker points of United’s setup.

Javi Gracia deserves applause for the same. Roberto Pereyra delivered an incredible performance, though his goal-drought continued here again. However, he was quite precise with his passes, finally delivering around four of them throughout the course of the game.

Despite their immense performance, Watford might just feel hard done by the cruel nature of the game, as United’s level-headedness in both ends of the pitch allowed them to snatch three points out of this game.