Plucky underdogs Manchester United hold on to end Watford’s perfect start and secure victory at all costs

Rio Ferdinand gave the game away beforehand. Manchester United, he claimed on BT Sport, were well capable of “coming here and causing an upset”. There it was, in just a few unguarded words: how one of United’s greatest modern players sees their place in the world now. Once, this was a club that would turn up at places like Vicarage Road and swat the opposition away with a swipe of the arm. These days, they arrive with grappling hooks and sandbags.

The good news for United fans is that, on this occasion at least, it worked. It wasn’t always pretty, and it certainly wasn’t comfortable, but ultimately the plucky underdogs saw off the league’s high-flyers with two set-piece goals and a lot of salty, backs-to-the-wall defending. Watford had more shots on goal and played much the nicer football, but ultimately Jose Mourinho’s unfancied outsiders deservedly claimed the spoils. And they say the Premier League’s getting less competitive these days.

United certainly played like outsiders, especially during those final few minutes when Watford threw everything at them in defence of their unbeaten record. It was Marouane Fellaini booting the ball straight into touch. It was Alexis Sanchez being replaced by Scott McTominay with seven minutes left, perhaps the most Mourinho substitution in history. It was Nemanja Matic being sent off for a second yellow, Ben Foster going up for the resultant free-kick, David de Gea miraculously saving Christian Kabasele’s header in the fifth of three minutes of injury time, before referee Mike Dean brought a merciful end to proceedings.

Of course, United fans will argue that they were well worth their win, and their clinical three-minute blitz just before half-time was just the sort of salvo that decides these sorts of games. “Process” is the buzzword in sport these days, but Mourinho doesn’t really go in for processes, or indeed buzzwords. Mourinho is in the business of outcomes. For Mourinho, football is essentially a game of two penalty boxes with a big bit of grass in the middle, and if you get the right men in the right positions at either end, then you can render the grassy bit in the middle largely academic.

And so United won because Romelu Lukaku was in the just the right place to tuck in Ashley Young’s cross with his belly, because Chris Smalling was in just the right place to hook home a few minutes later, because Smalling was immense against Troy Deeney in defence, because Antonio Valencia neutered Watford’s threat from the left flank, because De Gea made two superb saves in either half. Watford played some eye-catching stuff in midfield - Will Hughes was especially good - but for 83 minutes, when they searched for a cool delivery or a surgical finish, they came up empty-handed. Lessons for Javi Gracia, and a team that nevertheless showed enough here to suggest they will continue to outperform expectations.

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The key period of play, in retrospect, came around half an hour in. Watford were on top, roared on by a crowd that sounded far louder than 21,000 should sound, and a goal at that point would have rocked United to their bones. Instead, De Gea saved acrobatically from Deeney, United went up the other end and peppered the Watford area with a succession of crosses, one of which just eluded Foster and plopped in off the yielding surface of Lukaku’s midriff.

United could have finished the game in that little period. Watford lost their shape and lost their bravery, rushing the man in possession and leaving gaps in the area. Smalling’s superb solo effort after Fellaini had headed the ball back into the mixer made it 2-0, Sanchez and Pogba both saw good efforts saved, and ultimately Watford were a little fortunate still to have a game to chase.

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But chase it they did. And here is where United’s safety-first mentality almost cost them: instead of anaesthetising the game, they lost control of it, retreating into their little trench on the 18-yard line, pulling 10 men behind the ball, inviting Watford to attack them. By the law of averages, Watford were going to nail an attack at some point, and with 25 minutes left they finally did, Andre Gray side-footing Doucoure’s intelligent cross high into the net.

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Even so, United just about held firm, just about did enough. And that’s the sort of vibe you get from United at the moment: a side just about doing enough, a team scraping together just enough points to keep the show on the road for another week, a manager cobbling together just enough supporter goodwill to buttress his position until the next Friday press conference. At full-time, he gestured once more to the travelling fans, who sang his name enthusiastically: it’s the United fans, more than anyone, who are keeping Mourinho in place at the moment, and for now he remains their champion. As long as results go their way, that will continue to be the case. And yet, at the back of their minds, they’ll be bleakly aware of what happens to all underdogs in the end: they fall to earth.