The best reaction to Ashley Young’s stunning free kick came from the Vicarage Road dugout.
As Manchester United’s left wing back found the net for the second time against former side Watford on Tuesday night, the BT Sport cameras cut to a visibly shocked Jose Mourinho.
The United manager’s eyes bulged and he looked around at his backroom staff in disbelief after Young had made it 2-0 to the visitors.
But, contrary to initial opinion, Mourinho wasn’t surprised by what the 32-year-old had just pulled out of the top drawer but, rather, he was just astonished that Young was allowed to take the free kick in the first place.
“I was surprised that Paul gave him permission,” Mourinho said. “I was not surprised with his [Young’s] shot, is quite good and his percentage of success in training is quite high, so we knew he could score but Paul is also very good and his shot is normally more powerful, so in that position I was expecting Paul to take it.”
Jose Mourinho's reaction to Young's free-kick… 😮😳
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After scoring three unanswered goals in the first thirty minutes, United found themselves dragged into a dramatic finish after Troy Deeney and Abdoulaye Doucure secured a lifeline for the Hornets.
The game ultimately finished 4-2 to United but, in his post-match press conference, Mourinho was full of praise for the valiant fightback of the hosts.
“We had chances for four, five and six we had that in the first-half,” Mourinho said. “We finish the half with that chance for the open goal, we had it in the second half again and again and we didn’t score.
“So I think the players had the feeling the game was easy, the game was over, that Watford had no conditions to react. But then they react, they score the penalty, the penalty gave them belief, these mid-table teams have quality and no pressure, they don’t feel the pressure that teams with other objectives have.
“So they come with everything, they have no problems to concede four, five or six so they gave us a couple of minutes of real pressure where anything could happen.
“This is football. Last week, Dortmund-Schalke, 4-0, 4-4, and a couple of weeks ago, Liverpool [at Sevilla] 3-0, 3-3. That’s football but I prefer to forget the five minutes where we concede the goals and lost concentration.
“I prefer to focus on the good things we did, and we did so many good things, so much in control and really dangerous in attacking situations, to play away from home and score four goals but possible to score seven or eight.”
