Watford vs Manchester United match report: Troy Deeney own goal gets United out of jail after late penalty

He insists on being addressed as Memphis. Most of us refer to him by his surname, Depay. However confusing the modern footballer’s nomenclature, Manchester United were grateful to welcome back from the wilderness a seemingly lost soul.

Depay, the Dutch forward who has the fashion sense of a Peruvian pan-pipe player and the pretensions of a rapper, answered the unfulfilled expectations of Louis van Gaal by laying the foundation for a fortunate victory at Vicarage Road.

It was a timely response to the strictures of a manager he has played under for club and country. Watford could not deal with Depay’s cleverness off the ball or his touch, impudence and vision on it.

His 11th-minute goal, an emphatic side-footed volley from a right-wing cross by Ander Herrera, was taken with such ease and created with such subtlety of movement that it highlighted why Van Gaal has hailed him “the greatest talent of his age”. The United manager’s pleasure was tempered by his team’s inability to put Watford away until six seconds from the end of normal time, when Troy Deeney, who had equalised with an 86th-minute penalty, slid an inaccurate Bastian Schweinsteiger shot into his own net.

“You have to sniff out the danger,” the German World Cup winner remarked, with a telling smirk. “That was a very important win for us.”

Depay would not have started his first match since being withdrawn during the 3-0 defeat to Arsenal on 4 October but for an injury crisis.

“We are in a lousy period,” mourned Van Gaal, who confirmed that Phil Jones and Anders Herrera, who picked up ankle and hamstring injuries respectively yesterday, will miss Wednesday’s Champions League tie against PSV Eindhoven.

Van Gaal praised Depay for a “superb” first-half performance and made a point of stressing his suitability for the role Robin van Persie filled for both United and Holland. He said he was “a proud man” and that “every week we are getting closer” to Manchester City and Arsenal.

Whatever hieroglyphics the Dutchman inscribes on his clipboard, they worked. His tactical flexibility confused Watford’s players, who were reduced to marking space or shadows by two separate systems that relied on clever rotational movement.

United began with a narrow shape consisting of three banks of two in front of an orthodox back four and moved to a back three, with Mata playing centrally behind Lingard and Depay in a 3-4-1-2 formation.

“It is a big satisfaction that we can change the system” said Van Gaal, who expects Wayne Rooney to have recovered from illness by midweek. “I know some people think we are boring, but we are now more able to be balanced in our selection.”

They could have had greater insurance against late alarms, but Jesse Lingard was twice thwarted in one- on-one situations by goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who gave his usual impression of an octopus trapped inside a tumble drier.

It says much for Watford’s resilience that they could easily have taken a point had their improvement in the second half not been neutralised by the familiar excellence of David De Gea, who was given his senior debut at Atletico Madrid by Quique Sanchez Flores, the home side’s head coach. He made four decisive interventions, but the one-handed save from Almen Abdi, whose shot nicked off Chris Smalling, was exceptional, as he saw the ball very late and turned it round the post.

He was beaten only from the penalty spot, after United’s run without conceding had extended beyond 10 hours. Odion Ighalo fell under a typically clumsy challenge by Marcus Rojo, whom Van Gaal suggested was suffering from jet lag, and Deeley despatched the penalty with distinctive force.

Watford’s captain embodies the spirit that makes the Hornets the likeliest survivors of the three promoted clubs, despite their counter-intuitive ignorance of the merits of squad stability. “To lose a point in that way was very, very tough,” Flores admitted.

As for United, they are acquiring quiet momentum. “I was very satisifed about our defensive organisation,” said Van Gaal. “We don’t give more than three chances away, one in the first half and two in the second.

“We changed the shape and the system but, nevertheless, we created a lot of chances.

“We could have finished the game off much earlier and, I have to say, I thought we had given it away after the penalty. But then you see the spirit of this team.”

Watford: (4-4-2) Gomes; Nyom (Parades, 68), Cathcart, Britos, Anya; Abdi, Capoue, Watson, Jurado (Ake, h-t); Deeney, Ighalo.

Manchester Utd: (4-2-2-2) De Gea; Young, Jones (McNair, 68), Smalling, Blind; Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger; Mata (Periera, 78), Herrera (Rojo, 24); Lingard, Depay.

Referee: Robert Madley

Man of the match: Depay (Manchester Utd)

Match rating: 6/10