Wayne Rooney, Manchester United Fall 3-1 To Watford As Jose Mourinho Blames Luke Shaw

Manchester United took their third loss in one week, falling to Watford 3-1 on the road on Sunday, and captain Wayne Rooney did not play well in the defeat.

Wayne Rooney, Manchester United Fall 3-1 To Watford As Jose Mourinho Blames Luke Shaw

Rooney wasn’t alone, however, in performing terribly, as many of the men on the team of Jose Mourinho – who took over as United manager in May– seemed to struggle.

Rooney– who recently announced he would retire from international soccer following the Russia 2018 World Cup– compiled some of his worst statistics during that game at Vicarage Road. The 30-year-old Red Devils striker–who played as a midfielder on Sunday– took nine corners and free kicks, but only created a chance for United with two of them.

He also didn’t create a single chance from open play, and didn’t have a single shot on target. Rooney also struggled defensively: he didn’t make a single tackle, and only had one interception, all while committing one foul.

Nevertheless, Mourinho expressed more discontent with another of his players: left-back Luke Shaw. 

Mourinho said, without explicitly mentioning Shaw: “The first Man City goal and this second goal against Watford — you can find an incredible similarity, which is [Aleksandar] Kolarov has the ball in a difficult situation in the corner and my players, instead of going up to press they decide to give space.”

He continued criticizing his own defense: “And here for the second goal, [Nordin] Amrabat receives the ball and our left-back is 25 meters from him instead of five meters. But even at 25 meters, you have to jump and go and press, but no, we wait. This is a tactical but also a mental attitude. It’s something that doesn’t become perfect in a couple of weeks. I can split these defeats into three factors — one, the referee’s crucial mistakes are not in my control, there is nothing I can do about that.”

The hosts led when Etienne Capoue converted Daryl Janmaat’s cut-back in the 34th minute, only for Marcus Rashford to level from close range. Juan Zuniga then doubled Watford’s lead in the 83rd minute, just 53 seconds after coming on.

Troy Deeney then scored the third and final goal on a penalty five minutes into second-half injury time to seal the win. The penalty was awarded after Marouane Fellaini fouled Zuniga in the box.

Before losing to Watford, United fell to cross-town rivals Manchester City 2-1 and then lost 1-0 to Feyenoord in the Europa League on Thursday. It is the first time Mourinho has lost three straight games in a season since February 2002, when he was manager of Porto.

Mourinho made five changes to his starting line-up from the trip to the Netherlands, with Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic restored to the side. The Portuguese boss seemed unhappy with Watford’s first goal, feeling Anthony Martial was fouled by Miguel Britos, although Mourinho will surely need to look at his own side’s flaws, as the Red Devils are now seventh in the Premier League standings with nine points, six points behind league leaders Manchester City.

United next play at Northampton Town on Wednesday in the EFL Cup before hosting Premier League champions Leicester City on Saturday.