Proud Van Gaal delighted by United spirit

Depay latched on to a poor pass from Capoue and played in Jesse Lingard, whose shot was pushed away by Gomes.

Suddenly, United’s previous dominance had diminished and in the 75th minute Van Gaal leapt out of his seat to lambast Chris Smalling, after the otherwise impressive defender had allowed Deeney another drive at De Gea.

Since leaving Old Trafford for Real Madrid in 2009, barely a week has gone by without a few kind of report linking Cristiano Ronaldo with a return to Manchester United.

Memphis Depay: Manchester United could hardly find a striker to play at Vicarage Road given their number of absentees but Depay more than filled the void, capping a lively display with an excellent first-half finish.

– Louis van Gaal ” s side went 641 minutes without conceding a goal before Troy Deeney ” s strike from the penalty spot.

All comments that are posted on the beIN SPORTS website do not reflect beIN SPORTS opinion or vision. beIN SPORTS is not legally responsible for any inappropriate comments, users are exclusively responsible for comments they post and is described to be their personal opinion.

The visitors were ahead with just 11 minutes on the clock when Depay met an exquisite Ander Herrera cross to volley past Heurelho Gomes for his fifth goal of the season.

“There are a lot of games coming up, we’ve got a lot of injuries at the moment and have to adapt to that, I thought we did that well”.

The win puts United top of the Premier League, with Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester City having the chance to surpass them when they play later on Saturday.

The last time the Holland global completed a full 90 minutes for United came against Southampton on September 20 but he was delighted to finish the game – and score a goal. “I am very proud I am the manager of that team”. I am fine here. “The angle was not so easy but of course Deeney did touch the ball”. In football you always have to believe.

“I think we didn’t play so good offensively”. I know a few people think our positional game is boring but I think it is a way to disorganise the opponent’s organisation. “There was a bit of luck but we are happy to get the three points”, the Germany midfielder added.

Watford manager Quique Flores was left to rue the own goal that cost his side a point. “He played it also in the World Cup for me when van Persie and Robben were injured so I knew he could do it. Jesse also was fantastic and we have created a lot of chances thanks to those two”.