Veteran England international continues his renaissance as he produces two stunning first half efforts against his former club but Lingard steals the show with worldie
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ASHLEY YOUNG will be closing the Watford branch of his fan club.
A former player who was greeted with respectful applause on his return, Young made the bizarre decision to antagonise the supporters as his double saw United close the gap at the top to five points. For a few hours, at least.
Young cupped his ear to celebrate his first goal and then slid on his knees towards the home fans after scoring the second six minutes later and his actions were not received particularly well.
Young is lucky there are a pretty mild mannered bunch here at Vicarage Road because at other grounds, all hell would have broken loose if an ex player –had behaved like this after enjoying a good reception when his name was read out.
Not that Jose Mourinho will have cared as his team demolished their opponents in a first half battering despite a reasonably unimpressive start.
With Manchester City threatening to win the title before we even get to spring, United proved they are trying to still keep it a contest.
Mourinho watched with a mixture of disbelief as his side rattled off three goals in the space of 13 first half minutes.
With a trip to Arsenal on Saturday followed by a home game against the neighbours on Sunday week, anything other than away win would have been a disaster.
United will now hope that City lose the plot and suffer a defeat at home to Southampton but on current form, this is about as likely as Young being invited to switch on Watford's Christmas lights next year.
In a straightforward win, it was certainly Young who caught the eye regardless of the way he celebrated.
Mourinho has always been a big fan of his attitude along with the fact he is versatile and is now playing at left wing-back.
Young, who has since been rewarded with a place back in the England squad, is hoping to stay at Old Trafford for the rest of his career although United are set to activate a one-year extension clause.
The United fans certainly love him, even if that is no longer the case with his former club's supporters
Young was at Watford for all of his career coming through the youth ranks, before heading to Aston Villa nearly a decade ago.
Coming from nearby Stevenage, and at school the same time as Lewis Hamilton, Young has always been respectful to his former employers so maybe his behaviour – although hardly criminal – was down to excitement.
Watford were the better team at the start with Will Hughes, Richarlison and Abdoulaye Doucoure all looking useful.
But Marco Silva, who now looks set to stay at Watford despite clearly wanting the job at Everton, saw his team fall apart.
Young’s 19th minute opener was United's first decent effort of the game because at first, the visitors did not look interested.
Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard combined and Young who, from the edge of the area, shot through the legs of Kiko Femenia.
It was at that moment he lost the love of those Watford fans with his celebration as he went over to the corner flag, gave a salute then cupped his ear.
He then rubbed more salt into the wounds six minutes later. The free-kick came after Doucoure pulled back Pogba and Young’s strike from a central area was outstanding.
His effort it dipped over the wall but Heurelho Gomes’ positioning was questionable as he took a step to the left which made any hope of saving the effort impossible.
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Young once again annoyed the locals by sliding on his knees in front of the Rookery. It was the first time he had scored twice in the Premier League for five years.
As United’s bench celebrated, Mourinho sat motionless although looked baffled.
United’s third goal also came after a number of mistakes from the home side with the most crucial one being a poor header from Christian Kabasele which fell to Lukaku and he supplied Martial who rolled the ball past Gomes.
Just before the break, Young – looking for a first half hat-trick – hammered a free-kick against the wall which was greeted with cheers from the home fans.
Gomes delivered a decent double save from Lukaku and Lingard to prevent his team from going down four at the break while Richarlison.
As Jon Moss blew his half-time whistle, Young was the first one down the tunnel and once again, a few of the locals made their mood known.
United were solid in the second half, although with one eye on the return south to the Emirates in three days’ time, they hardly busted a gut.
Nemenja Matic got a knock, Lukaku missed a good chance and then Troy Deeney pulled one back from the penalty spot after Marcos Rojo fouled sub Roberto Pereyra.
With six minutes left, Watford set up the tense finish which would simply have not happened had Lukaku made it 4-0.
Sub Andre Carrillo crossed and Doucoure stuck out his leg to score.
Yet just as the home side got their hopes up, Lingard scored one of the goals of season running from his own half before sliding the ball into the net.
Mourinho celebrated with Zlatan Ibrahomivic - and then promptly replaced him for Lingard.
So United held on for their first away league win in four matches and Mourinho, having beaten pal Silva, knows it will be a lot tougher against the manager he likes least – Arsene Wenger - this weekend.
