Jose Mourinho’s honeymoon period at Manchester United seems to be over as the Portuguese has seen his side losing their last two games on the bounce. Things started really well for the Red Devils under the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager as they defeated Leicester City in the FA Community Shield in their first competitive game. Then gained solid momentum by beating Bournemouth, Southampton and Hull City but were beaten 1-2 at home at the hands of rivals Manchester City in the Manchester derby last week and a midweek loss to Feyenoord in the Europa League makes things much worse for the Red Devils.
Watford, on the other hand, won their first game of the season last week from being 0-2 down in 33 minutes against West Ham. The Hornets can potentially add further woes to Mourinho if they can come up with a similar display that they delivered against West Ham.
Here are three ways Watford can stop Manchester United.
Man mark Zlatan Ibrahimovic
A world class player can perform in any league of the world and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the biggest example of that. At the age of 34, the Swede arrived in the Premier League and many were sceptical if he could do well in the Premier League or not but Ibrahimovic has shut the critics from his very first outing. He has scored five goals in his five starts so far and United failed to score a single goal when he did not start the game against Feyenoord. That speaks volumes for how crucial he is to the Red Devils and Watford must ensure that they keep the Swede superstar silent.
Improve their ability on the ball
Watford players have been pretty below par this season with their passing. The Hornets’ average passing accuracy is just 74% while they had just 42% of the ball in an average this season. Manchester United like to keep possession of the ball and have kept 50% possession so far this season while having a team average passing accuracy of 84%. Watford must improve their ability on the ball in order to stop Manchester United.
Janmaat and Holebas particularly need to impress
Manchester United create their attacks from the flanks mostly which is quite evident from this image.
Watford’s 5-3-2 system is a formation where you have the perfect balance between your defence and attack but only if you have quality wingbacks. Janmaat and Holebas are both solid wingbacks who have brilliant attacking abilities but they need to ensure that they track back every time United are on the move.
