Premier League 2021-22: Manchester United 0-0 Watford: Three factors that stood out in the match

Manchester United played out a goalless draw with Watford in their Premier League match at Old Trafford yesterday. The draw was a major disappointment for Manchester United as they remain in the 4th position in the league table with 47 points from 27 matches. However, 5th placed Arsenal are only two points adrift of them with three matches in hand.

Meanwhile, the visitors, who are staring at relegation, earned a valuable point to move to 19 points from 26 matches. Roy Hodgson’s side are in the 19th place in the league table.

On that note, let’s take a look at the three factors which stood out in today’s match:

#1 Manchester United dominated the first half with their quick recovery and passing:

Manchester United were the dominant team from the outset. They started the match with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Nemanja Matic, who replaced an injured Scott McTominay in the starting eleven, playing alongside Fred in a double pivot in midfield. Anthony Elanga and Paul Pogba started on the right and left flanks respectively.

Manchester United were quick to launch counter-attacks after intercepting Watford’s attacks in their defensive third in the first half. The likes of Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Elanga kept playing quick passes among themselves and splitting open Watford’s defense repeatedly. Matic distributed tirelessly from his own half and Fred ventured into the opposition half occasionally.

Ronaldo was the first to miss a goal-scoring opportunity for the home side. He took the ball under his control superbly from Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross and turned quickly to take a shot at Watford’s goal. However, the ball hit the post and went off.

Ronaldo succeeded in putting the ball into the net minutes later from Alex Telles’ cross from the left flank, but the goal was disallowed as the Portuguese was offside.

#2 Watford defended dourly as Manchester United kept missing chances in the first half:

Fernandes missed quite a few chances for the home side

Manchester United had around 60% ball possession in the initial 25 minutes and finished the first half with more than 65% possession. Still, their profligacy in front of the opposition goal became their bane.

Bruno Fernandes missed at least three opportunities from inside the Watford penalty box. On the first occasion, Ben Foster made a stupendous save and on the remaining two, the Portuguese playmaker could not keep the ball on target.

Anthony Elanga, who made it to the first eleven after having scored the equalizer against Atletico Madrid in a Champions League clash last Wednesday, once again impressed in the first half with his darting runs. He kept cutting in from the right flank and reached near the opposition penalty box on quite a few occasions.

Pogba, on the other hand, kept swapping positions with Fernandes, but could not do enough to break the visitors' defense.

Alex Telles also worked hard and played quite a few crosses into the Watford penalty box. The visitors, however, defended dourly and came up with some vital interventions around their penalty box. They also attacked in patches with Ismaila Sarr at the fore. However, a number of shots and passes played by Sarr were blocked by the Manchester United defenders.

#3 Watford held on for a draw as misses galore for United in the second half too:

Elanga was the stand-out player for United today

The saga of missed chances continued in the second half, too, for United. Their forwards were not clinical enough in the final third and the Red Devils paid the price.

Ralf Rangnick withdrew both Fred and Matic in the second half and introduced Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. Subsequently, Manchester United switched to a 4-1-4-1 formation with Pogba playing as the lone defensive midfielder.

However, there was no change in their fortunes as the match-winning goal eluded them. Ronaldo got some good chances again in the second half, but could not connect well enough to trouble Foster. Fernades kept taking shots at goal, but most of them were blocked.

Elanga remained the stand-out player for the home side in the second half too and enjoyed a good battle with Watford’s defender Samir. The Swedish winger repeatedly moved inside from the right flank with the ball at his feet to keep the Watford defenders on their toes.

Sancho then cut in from the left flank to take a shot that resulted in the ball flying over the crossbar and it summed up Manchester United’s day.

The visitors mainly relied on counter-attacks in the second half as well and Sarr could have snatched all three points with a shot in the dying minutes of the match, but the ball missed the target.