FOOTBALL Mourinho not taking threat of ‘unusual’ Watford lightly
English midfielder talks to Andy Mitten about a ‘rocket’ from Ferguson and playing with Scholes ahead of Watford’s match with his old club
Manchester United were humbled at Watford last season and Jose Mourinho is expecting an even tougher test at Vicarage Road this time around as they seek to keep the pressure on Manchester City in the Premier League title fight.
Late goals from Juan Zuniga and Troy Deeney gave the Hertfordshire side a 3-1 victory in September 2016, condemning United to their third defeat in a week.
That period remains the lowest ebb of Mourinho’s Old Trafford reign and the United manager is aware just how hard it will be to exact revenge tonight as United look to close the gap, at least for 24 hours, to five points on leaders City, who entertain Southampton tomorrow.
Watford are eighth in the Premier League after their impressive 3-0 win at Newcastle United.
Mourinho has not forgotten last year’s loss and said his side were harshly dealt with that day when Anthony Martial was fouled in the build-up to the first goal, scored by Etienne Capoue, and had to be substituted as a result.
“Against Watford I was very upset with Watford’s first goal after some guy sent Martial to the hospital and the referee let it go,” Mourinho said. “That is the reason why I was very, very upset at Watford.
“[Now] I think Watford [has] made also progress. They have an unusual squad for a mid-table team. They have a squad full of very good players who are not normal to be in these mid-table teams. They have a good coach. They have improved a lot from last season.”
Mourinho also said there is no pressure on striker Romelu Lukaku to rediscover his goalscoring form as the Belgian’s relentless work rate makes up for it.
Lukaku, who netted 11 goals in his first 10 United games following his move from Everton in the close season, disappointed on Saturday when United laboured to a 1-0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
The 24-year-old has scored just once in his past 10 games but Mourinho said he offers much more than goals on the pitch.
“In the last minute he [Lukaku] was fighting and running back like he was in the first minute, so I think it is also a mentality question,” Mourinho said. “The way Romelu wins the corner for the goal, the way Romelu ends the game-making tackles in the left-back position, that is the mentality I want.”
It has not been past week for Watford Football Club. Manager Marco Silva stayed in the role and his team defeated the Uniteds of West Ham and Newcastle 2-0 and 3-0 respectively.
Beating a third – second placed Manchester United – at Vicarage Road tonight will be a bigger ask, but the task will be helped by Silva remaining at the club which resisted all Everton’s approaches.
Watford’s frequent managerial changes make for an unusual model but it is one that is working, for the team from a town of only 90,000 are eighth in the Premier League table.
Their consistency and stability comes from players like midfielder Tom Cleverley, one of their best performers.
Cleverley, 28, will play against his former club United because, like another former United midfielder Darren Fletcher, he plays every week.
Cleverley has been given 90 minutes in every Watford league game this season except in the 6-0 defeat against a Manchester City side he described as the best in the league. He was taken off for the last 25 minutes as City’s midfielders passed around him.
He is consistent, playing at the base of the Watford midfield. Though goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes is the team captain, Cleverley is Silva’s effective leader.
He is the one he called over for a last minute word as the teams prepared to kick-off at St James’ Park on Saturday, the one referees speak to when they want to get a message to Watford players.
“I don’t shout and scream all the time,” he told
The National, “but I do communicate on the field and the manager trusts me to do that.
“I’m happy to be on the field, happy to be at Watford and I love playing every week in the Premier League.
“If you’re happy and confident then it brings the best out of you. We’ve got good players here and a good manager. We’re not aiming to survive and stay up, we’re aiming for a top 10 finish.”
It is Cleverley’s second spell at the club.
“The first time I played at Watford, I arrived as a boy and went back to Manchester a man,” explained Cleverley of a loan in 2009-10, having excelled for third tier Leicester City the previous season.
“I’d never cooked or washed clothes before. I looked at the empty kitchen in my flat and didn’t know what to do.
“The fitness guy at Watford came round to show me how to cook some simple chicken and pasta dishes. Nothing too complex, but it worked.
“Becoming more independent put me in the real world and that was a side of going out on loan that people don’t always understand.”
Cleverley was voted player of the year at Vicarage Road and Watford fans remembered the player who was spotted by Manchester United in his home city of Bradford aged 11, scoring a hat-trick playing for Bradford boys against rivals Huddersfield.
That was the start of a 13year long association with United, in which he broke into the first team, played 79 games and won the first of 13 England caps.
“To play for United was a massive honour and something I’ll be proud about telling my children,” he said. “I didn’t play a couple of times, I played almost 80 games in the best team in the country, one of the top three biggest clubs in the world. I’m very proud of that.”
Alex Ferguson, who took to Cleverley and insisted that he stayed at Old Trafford when others questioned if he would be big enough to play top football, described Cleverley as a “United type footballer, who likes to pass and move. He’s hungry and is a serious professional who has made sacrifices to succeed”.
Cleverley once made the mistake of answering Ferguson back.
“He gave me a rocket after an FA Cup match I 2013,” he said. “I stupidly answered him back. “I wouldn’t do that again. He was right, too. I didn’t see how lucky I was at the time, a young player playing with all these legends and under the best manager in this country. The things he told me make sense now, like where we were going on a Saturday night and who we were seen with.”
As United started to lurch post Ferguson, Cleverley became a focus for supporter frustration in 2013-14.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “I made mistakes, not just on the pitch, but off it. You let things affect you but it gives you a thicker skin. I also learned to be able to switch off and spend time with my family.”
Cleverley also switched off his Twitter account with 1.5 million followers and his personal website.
He was allowed to leave United in 2014 by Louis van Gaal, who preferred new signing Morgan Schneiderlin.
“Van Gaal was straight with me and said that my opportunities were going to be limited,” he said. “I wanted to play, I wasn’t going to do that at United. It was right for me to move on and it wasn’t