This is a review of Manchester United vs Watford game in the premier league, which comprises of what was said before and after the match and what happened after the game.
Manchester United hosted Watford in the Premier League on Saturday after a huge win against Leeds United in the Premier League and also a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
The game looks easy for the Red Devils at first only to find it hard to find the back of the net in the game.
Manchester United dominated the game from the start to the finish but ended 0-0 against a weak Watford side.
What was said before the game?
Ahead of the game against Watford Ralf Rangnick stated that they month of March could be a defining month for Manchester United.
United will face tough matches in March including the Manchester Derby and the return leg of the Champions League at Old Trafford.
Speaking about the defining month of March Rangnick said: “Well, it could, but, as you said, for us, it only makes sense to take one game after the other. Now the job is to fully recover from the game the day before yesterday and play at the highest possible level tomorrow at home and hopefully win the game against Watford. And then we have a normal week to prepare for the derby against Manchester City.”
Rangnick also spoke about the forwards of Watford and the threat they can give Manchester United in the game.
“They have three fast, physical strikers, always looking for the transitional moments, playing pretty direct. So this is their biggest threat and we have to be aware of that, we have to avoid any transitional moments for them and be stable in defence and at the same time create as many chances as we possibly can with our own offensive department.”
Watford defeated the Red Devils in their first encounter this season which led to the dismissal of Ole Gunner Solskjaer.
Roy Hodgson said ahead of the game that past result doesn’t have effect on future result as he believed it’s a different coaching system.
“As far as I’m concerned, past results have no effect whatsoever on future results. It’s a different team and a different coaching setup.
“The quality of the opponents is going to make life difficult for us in terms of getting those points, but the good thing is, we are fit and ready to go and take on the challenge. It’s not going to be easy, but we want to win.
“There are very few teams in the league that can afford not to pick up points because teams are playing for European places or playing to stay in the league. We need points sooner rather than later.”
What was said after the game?
Rangnick fumes at the draw against Watford as he admits they lack the finishing touch in the game.
He claims they dominated the game from but were unable to score in the match.
“We had enough chances. In the first half we had four clear opportunities that normally would have been enough to score one or two goals. In the second half there were similar. It is about efficiency, about being clinical in front of goal and this is not for the first time unfortunately but apart from that we were in true control of the game, dominated the game.
“We did everything apart from scoring. We have to take the result, it is difficult to win the game. We were in full control for almost the whole game, they had hardly any counter attacks apart from the last five minutes. Apart from that, we were in total control of the game.”
Bruno Fernandes captained the team in the absence of club captain Harry Maguire as the Portuguese insists they need to do better.
“We had good chances, big chances to score,’’ began our captain for the day, as he spoke to club media following Saturday afternoon’s stalemate.
“Myself I think I had two big chances to score a goal. But in the end, it turned into one of those days where we could of been here for another hour and still not score.
“If we look at the performance you can say it was good, but not good enough because we didn’t score goals.
‘’Now is the moment to look forward to the next game and understand the next one [against Manchester City] will be massive for us, for our fans and for what we want to do in the league too.”
Hodgson on the other hand, praise his players attitude in the game as he believe they deserved the point in the game.
“We should be fighting for our lives on the pitch. The attitude of the team was outstanding. It would’ve been nice to have shown more composure on the break but that’s hard to do in our position. Once or twice, we got into great positions and perhaps that first decision let us down a little.
“The players should be proud of their performance. I didn’t see players leaping around afterwards celebrating, which shows me they’ve got high standards. We grafted so well, well enough to deserve a point I thought.”
