For a team with some of the best players in Europe,
Manchester United's performance in their 3-1 defeat by
Watford was nowhere near the level I would expect.
United were sloppy and they did the sort of simple things
badly - like losing runners, or kicking 30-yard passes straight
out of play - that are the basics for top-quality teams.
Watford deserve some credit, of course, for breaking the
game up and playing well themselves.
But United were just not at it for long periods at Vicarage
Road, and part of their problem was that they did not really
look like they had a set gameplan when they came forward.
United's wide-men playing too narrow
United lacked width because Marcus Rashford, Anthony
Martial and Ashley Young - who replaced Martial after 38
minutes - were all coming inside.
That is not a bad thing if the opposition are leaving space
there, but Watford weren't. They were clogging up the
middle of the pitch, and leaving the wide areas free.
The Hornets were playing in a kind of imbalanced 4-4-2
when they had the ball that became a 4-5-1 when United
were in possession.
Odion Ighalo would end up out on the left, although he was
not tracking back so Antonio Valencia had lots of space.
More often than not, though, Valencia did not have any
team-mates in front of him because, say, Rashford had gone
inside too early.
Valencia was usually picking up the ball and running from
deep so it meant that the Watford left-back, Jose Holebas,
had time to get over and cover.
If Rashford was out there, United would have had a two-
versus-one situation out on the right because Ighalo had not
tracked back. Instead Valencia was looking up and seeing
that everyone had moved inside.
United really needed their wide-men to stay high and wide
because by cutting in so early they were no help to their full-
backs, or anyone else.
It meant there was less space in the middle for Rooney or
Pogba, who had nowhere to go, and it became easy for
Watford to defend against because United's attackers were
all occupying the same areas.
Nobody in midfield to play a killer ball
As the game wore on and Watford tired, they gave United
some good possession in midfield. But, when you have that,
you need someone who can open up a team.
In recent years United have always had that player - Michael
Carrick, Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs when he played centrally
- who can do it, even in a tight game.
When I played in midfield against United I always thought
that if I sat off Scholes, he is going to hurt us. You give him
any sort of time and space and, bang, he has seen the pass
and played the killer ball.
With a big striker like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and runners like
Rashford, this United side have got plenty of targets for that
kind of playmaker, but against Watford they did not have a
midfielder with the required passing range
Pogba has got many strengths but he is not so much of a
ball player. He is better when he is running on to things and
going at people.
His partner at Vicarage Road was Marouane Fellaini, who is
more of a safety-first player. He has got his attributes, but he
is not someone who will split your defence open.
Fellaini is quite disciplined and does not go wandering too
much, which I think Mourinho likes. He helps his centre-
halves and, as we saw against Watford, he keeps the ball
well.
But do you need more when you play for United? In games
like this, yes. Although they had lots of variation in their
forward players, they lacked someone who could make
things happen and instigate attacks.
Carrick was on the bench against Watford and, with what he
can offer and the way the game was going, I was amazed he
did not get on the pitch at any point.
No need to panic with so much quality
Mourinho will be massively disappointed to have lost three
games on the spin - it is just not something he does,
especially with a performance like that one.
But it should not be panic stations at Old Trafford, because
there is plenty of quality and talent in their squad, and lots
of options in every department.
Mourinho just needs to find a better balance with his team
in games like this where they have most of the possession,
and make sure they are more creative, because they were a
bit predictable against the Hornets.
Like any manager who goes to a new club, Mourinho has
brought in his own players but he also has to look at the
ones who were already there, and work out which ones suit
the way he wants to play. That is going to take time.
United's bad run is made that little bit worse by how well
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are doing at the moment,
but Guardiola and Mourinho are both still finding out about
their players.
It just so happens that City have hit the ground running
while United have had this little wobble, but it is a long
season and everyone is going to have a bad spell at some
point - even City.
Danny Murphy was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.