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Stymieing Midfield Runners the Key for Manchester United to Beat Watford
- Updated: September 16, 2016
Last weekend’s Premier League action could hardly have contrasted more starkly from Watford and Manchester United’s standpoints; the former battled back from two down to beat West Ham United 4-2 at the London Stadium, while the latter lost to arch-rivals Manchester City in their much-feted derby.
As a result, the confidence levels of the two teams will be in different ranges. While the Hornets’ players may just be starting to believe things are coming together for them under Walter Mazzarri—who has overseen a steady incline in performances since the season began—Jose Mourinho’s lot have been left re-evaluating themselves after being shown who is boss in the north-west.
Add in that United lost in Rotterdam on Thursday evening and have little time to prepare for this match—and that a number of first-team stars, such as Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial, started the defeat to Feyenoord in the Europa League—and you might just have the recipe for an upset in north London on Sunday.
Watford
Mazzarri wasted no time in installing his favoured 3-5-2 template at Watford upon taking the reins, but he has already wavered in his belief in the system twice, switching out of it in half the games his team have played so far.
Most notably, last weekend’s win over West Ham saw them change from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 in around the 20th minute, and from there, they turned the game on its head, scoring four. It makes it tough to project which shape the Italian will plump for, as there’s an argument for starting out of the 4-3-3 this time, but it’s also feasible to try the 3-5-2 again and switch out if necessary.
Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney finally found form against West Ham and combined well, with Ighalo even doing well from a left-wing role in the 4-3-3. He ran relentlessly at Sam Byram and stressed the channel between Byram and James Collins in the Hammers’ back line.
Younes Kaboul is a certain starter at the back in a four or a three, while Miguel Britos will likely line up on his left. Craig Cathcart played as an emergency right-back against West Ham and could do so again, but a better solution would be to move Daryl Janmaat back and start Nordin Amrabat—so long as he’s fit.
Manchester United
United utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation in their first four games of the season, recording mixed performances in it. While the attack …
