Alan Shearer: These are worrying times for Manchester Utd and their manager Jose Mourinho
FOR MANCHESTER UNITED these are worrying times already.
Even in victory in their opening four games including the Community Shield there was nothing wholly convincing about their play.
Now it is three defeats in nine days including that 1-0 defeat in Rotterdam to Feyenoord last Thursday.
That makes it a worse start to the season than Louis van Gaal endured a year ago.
It is a situation brought into starker focus by what is happening down the road at Manchester City.
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They are getting better and better whereas there are still more questions than answers at Old Trafford.
Most certainly there was in Watford yesterday.
What is the plan? What is the best team? Where do you want Wayne Rooney to play? Or should he be playing at all?
Not on yesterday’s performance it is fair to say.
His distribution, which always used to match his eye for goal, was well off the radar yesterday.
One chance created and one shot was his total contribution.
You always know things are not going well when he is constantly in the officials’ ears and it was non-stop as things unravelled yesterday.
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You can forgive a derby defeat against a team as strong as Manchester City but 3-1 away at Watford is another matter.
The defence that it is still early days can rightly be argued.
It’s early days at Manchester City too but just look at the mark Pep Guardiola has stamped on that club already.
It was always the case that Mourinho did the same from the off wherever he went.
He was supposed to be the instant fix, which is exactly what Manchester United needed but still they remain broken.
That was the case when Louis van Gaal took over and he vowed to find the formula to put things back together.
How is it that such an esteemed manager could get it so wrong?
Yet Mourinho is already having similar problems.
The players did not seem to have a clue what they were supposed to be doing as they were stung by The Hornets.
Compare what they were trying to do yesterday to how City dismantled Bournemouth. Similair size opposition if you like.
Now I can understand United trying to make use of their height against City in the derby.
After all they had an advantage through Marouane Fellaini, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovich and were up against a 6ft goalkeeper making his Premier League debut.
It worked in that it forced a mistake out of Claudio Bravo to get United back into the game.
Yet they seemed to use the same tactic yesterday.
Mourinho always makes it his first job at a new club to get the defensive part right.
It is perhaps why some people label him negative sometimes.
But that is six conceded in their last three games now with Mourinho left grasping at the straws offered by debatable refereeing decisions.
No way was it a foul for Watford’s first goal.
There are some big name players letting him down right now.
World record signing Paul Pogba looked good on his debut against Southampton but there has been very little since.
Perhaps the trip to Northampton in the EFL Cup this week will provide Mourinho with a chance not to play a weakened team but his strongest.
A chance to get some goals, get some confidence because it is Leicester City up next at Old Trafford next Saturday lunchtime.
While that fixture never used to strike fear into the hearts of the Red Devils, the Foxes are the Champions now and back on form with successive 3-0 wins against Club Brugge in the Champions League and Burnley in the Premier.
A third successive league defeat for United with City at Swansea next weekend and looking unbeatable right now and that could be a nine point gap between the pair.
And if Pep Guardiola's City get to 9 points in front it will be very, very difficult for any side to claw back.
With the clocks still to go back, United's present and future remain uncertain.