UNITED 4 - WATFORD 0
February 1st 2007 10:25
Match report from tonight's home win in the encounter versus Watford
A flutter on a Watford win would have been a tall order, even in Manchester's planned future super casino, and this game proved to be a rock-solid banker.
Manchester United looked like Premiership leaders, while bottom of the table Watford resembled a team waiting for relegation to be confirmed.
Watford came to frustrate the Red Devils and managed it for 20 minutes until Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock from the penalty spot.
But Watford's hopes of achieving a damage limitation exercise evaporated as three goals in 12 minutes from the hour onwards condemned them to this heavy defeat.
Ronaldo, rested for Saturday's 2-1 fourth round FA Cup win over Portsmouth, returned to lead Watford a merry dance.
One audacious piece of skill in the 24th minute summed up his night.
Faced by Jordan Stewart and Hameur Bouazza on the right, he left them dizzy with a series of step-overs and then put the ball through Stewart's legs to set up a chance for Gary Neville.
Ronaldo was the epitome of coolness in the 20th minute when he opened the scoring from the spot.
Michael Carrick played the ball to Wayne Rooney in the Watford box. As Rooney seemed set to find Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Norwegian had his legs taken from under him by Jay DeMerit.
Referee Mike Dean awarded the penalty and Ronaldo put the ball on the spot, stepped up, shimmied and then drove the ball right-footed into the bottom right corner of the net as he sent Hornets goalkeeper Richard Lee the wrong way.
United had to wait another 40 minutes before breaching the Watford defence again.
Carrick worked the ball to Rooney and he found Kieran Richardson free on the left side of the Watford penalty area.
Richardson crossed towards Ronaldo at the near post, but Watford defender Lloyd Doyley beat him to the ball only to see his header loop beyond Lee and into his own net.
Henrik Larsson replaced the disappointing Solskjaer and the Swede was on target three minutes later.
Rooney played a superb one-two with Larsson as they cut through the middle of the Watford defence and it was Larsson who finished the move when he stroked the ball right-footed beyond Lee and into the net from 12 yards.
United's fourth goal three minutes later was the pick of the bunch.
Ronaldo's measured chip landed perfectly for Rooney 12 yards out and, with Lee almost mesmerised, the England man scored with a fantastic right-footed lob over him and into the roof of the net.
United could have had a fifth goal five minutes from the end when Ronaldo rattled the foot of a post with shot from 20 yards.
In reality, this could have ended up a cricket score.
Richardson missed two good chances when free in the Watford box and left-back Gabriel Heinze should have done better than hit the ball straight at Lee when clear inside the penalty area.
Lee did make one marvellous save in the 68th minute when he kept out Ronaldo's point-blank header from a Rooney cross.
Watford's only real chance came 12 minutes from time when United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak was forced to take Bouazza's 20-yard drive at full stretch.
Barclays Premiership, Wednesday 31st January 2007 @ 20:00; Old Trafford
GOALS:
Ronaldo 20 (pen)
Doyley 61 (og)
Larsson 70
Rooney 71
Starting Line-ups
29 Kuszczak
2 Neville
5 Ferdinand
22 O'Shea
4 Heinze
15 Vidic (Brown 75)
23 Richardson
16 Carrick (Silvestre 75)
7 Ronaldo
8 Rooney
20 Solskjaer (Larsson 66)
Substitutes
1 Van der Sar
27 Silvestre (Carrick 75)
6 Brown (Vidic 75)
17 Larsson (Solskjaer 66)
13 Park
22 Goal Attempts 2
11 On Target 1
10 Off Target 1
1 Hit Woodwork 0
1 Offsides 0
7 Corners 2
11 Fouls 11
Watford Starting Line-ups
16 Lee
3 Stewart
12 Doyley
6 DeMerit
11 Powell (Hoskins 61)
23 Mariappa
7 Francis
20 Bangura
18 Bouazza
10 Henderson (Kabba 75)
29 Smith (Williamson 72)
Substitutes
1 Chamberlain
38 Williamson (Smith 72)
19 McNamee
37 Hoskins (Powell 61)
15 Kabba (Henderson 75)
A flutter on a Watford win would have been a tall order, even in Manchester's planned future super casino, and this game proved to be a rock-solid banker.
Manchester United looked like Premiership leaders, while bottom of the table Watford resembled a team waiting for relegation to be confirmed.
Watford came to frustrate the Red Devils and managed it for 20 minutes until Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock from the penalty spot.
But Watford's hopes of achieving a damage limitation exercise evaporated as three goals in 12 minutes from the hour onwards condemned them to this heavy defeat.
Ronaldo, rested for Saturday's 2-1 fourth round FA Cup win over Portsmouth, returned to lead Watford a merry dance.
One audacious piece of skill in the 24th minute summed up his night.
Faced by Jordan Stewart and Hameur Bouazza on the right, he left them dizzy with a series of step-overs and then put the ball through Stewart's legs to set up a chance for Gary Neville.
Ronaldo was the epitome of coolness in the 20th minute when he opened the scoring from the spot.
Michael Carrick played the ball to Wayne Rooney in the Watford box. As Rooney seemed set to find Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Norwegian had his legs taken from under him by Jay DeMerit.
Referee Mike Dean awarded the penalty and Ronaldo put the ball on the spot, stepped up, shimmied and then drove the ball right-footed into the bottom right corner of the net as he sent Hornets goalkeeper Richard Lee the wrong way.
United had to wait another 40 minutes before breaching the Watford defence again.
Carrick worked the ball to Rooney and he found Kieran Richardson free on the left side of the Watford penalty area.
Richardson crossed towards Ronaldo at the near post, but Watford defender Lloyd Doyley beat him to the ball only to see his header loop beyond Lee and into his own net.
Henrik Larsson replaced the disappointing Solskjaer and the Swede was on target three minutes later.
Rooney played a superb one-two with Larsson as they cut through the middle of the Watford defence and it was Larsson who finished the move when he stroked the ball right-footed beyond Lee and into the net from 12 yards.
United's fourth goal three minutes later was the pick of the bunch.
Ronaldo's measured chip landed perfectly for Rooney 12 yards out and, with Lee almost mesmerised, the England man scored with a fantastic right-footed lob over him and into the roof of the net.
United could have had a fifth goal five minutes from the end when Ronaldo rattled the foot of a post with shot from 20 yards.
In reality, this could have ended up a cricket score.
Richardson missed two good chances when free in the Watford box and left-back Gabriel Heinze should have done better than hit the ball straight at Lee when clear inside the penalty area.
Lee did make one marvellous save in the 68th minute when he kept out Ronaldo's point-blank header from a Rooney cross.
Watford's only real chance came 12 minutes from time when United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak was forced to take Bouazza's 20-yard drive at full stretch.
Barclays Premiership, Wednesday 31st January 2007 @ 20:00; Old Trafford
GOALS:
Ronaldo 20 (pen)
Doyley 61 (og)
Larsson 70
Rooney 71
Starting Line-ups
29 Kuszczak
2 Neville
5 Ferdinand
22 O'Shea
4 Heinze
15 Vidic (Brown 75)
23 Richardson
16 Carrick (Silvestre 75)
7 Ronaldo
8 Rooney
20 Solskjaer (Larsson 66)
Substitutes
1 Van der Sar
27 Silvestre (Carrick 75)
6 Brown (Vidic 75)
17 Larsson (Solskjaer 66)
13 Park
22 Goal Attempts 2
11 On Target 1
10 Off Target 1
1 Hit Woodwork 0
1 Offsides 0
7 Corners 2
11 Fouls 11
Watford Starting Line-ups
16 Lee
3 Stewart
12 Doyley
6 DeMerit
11 Powell (Hoskins 61)
23 Mariappa
7 Francis
20 Bangura
18 Bouazza
10 Henderson (Kabba 75)
29 Smith (Williamson 72)
Substitutes
1 Chamberlain
38 Williamson (Smith 72)
19 McNamee
37 Hoskins (Powell 61)
15 Kabba (Henderson 75)
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Comment by Norman Whiteside
MANCHESTER UNITED v WATFORD, 4-0 Wed 31 Jan 2007
Manchester United maintained their six-point lead at the Barclays Premiership summit with an Old Trafford victory stroll against rock-bottom Watford.
The Red Devils roused themselves after a lethargic start to eventually romp home, extending their goal difference advantage over Chelsea to 14 in the process.
After Cristiano Ronaldo had slammed the hosts in front with his 14th goal of the season and Lloyd Doyley had doubled their lead with an unfortunate own goal, Henrik Larsson and Wayne Rooney also found the target as United recorded their biggest win since a similar-sized success at Bolton Wanderers three months ago.
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson had already made it clear he intends to fully utilise his squad over the crucial final third of the campaign, so it was no surprise Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar and Larsson were all omitted from the hosts’ starting line-up.
Kieran Richardson was one of the men given a rare opportunity but he did not make much of a case for more regular appearances in a lacklustre start which epitomised the general United effort.
In pulling 10 men behind the ball at every opportunity, Watford succeeded in denying their hosts space and their goal had barely been threatened when Jay DeMerit instinctively tugged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s shirt as the Norwegian attempted to reach Rooney’s lay-off.
Thankfully for United, eagle-eyed referee Mike Dean spotted the infringement and up stepped Ronaldo to slam the ball past Richard Lee.
The goal hardly served to send an extra sense of urgency through the home ranks and it was more through luck than judgement that they were not pegged back when Tomasz Kuszczak misread his angles as he attempted to turn Chris Powell’s cross over the bar and instead pushed it onto his own post.
It was probably the shock United needed as their attacking play suddenly became more incisive.
With Ronaldo and Rooney - both restored to Ferguson’s starting line-up - growing in influence, so the Red Devils started to carve out an increasing number of chances.
Nemanja Vidic was not far off with two headers from Michael Carrick corners and Richardson saw his shot flash onto the roof of Watford’s net.
The Red Devils maintained their focus after the break, too, with Rooney and Ronaldo both going close before Richardson curled over the cross which Doyley, with Ronaldo breathing down his neck, stuck out his head to nod into his own net.
To all intents and purposes, it was game over. But United, mindful of how close the title battle could turn out to be, went for the jugular.
Lee had already pulled off one stupendous save to prevent Adrian Mariappa scoring a second own goal before the Red Devils really cut loose.
Five minutes after his introduction for Solskjaer, Larsson laid off a pass to Rooney, then sped onto a clinical through-ball from the England man before rolling a shot into the corner.
United bagged another with their next attack, a product of an outrageous double act between Ronaldo and Rooney.
The Portugal man started it with a searing run across the visitors’ box, chipping the ball over Watford’s startled defence to Rooney, who promptly launched his shot high over Lee before watching it drop into the goal.
Ferguson could have attempted to inflict further damage on a Watford side whose two-game winning run was brought to an abrupt halt.
Instead, he offered Wes Brown the opportunity to replace Carrick in central midfield.
It was hardly surprising some of the fire went out of United’s play after that, although only the base of a post denied a Ronaldo shot which would have completed their biggest win of the campaign.