Watford piled the pressure on Solskjaer as the Hornets won 4-1 against a woeful Manchester United.
Before the game both managers made the point that they had used the international break to their advantage – to regroup and find solutions to their poor performances.
But it was clearly the Watford manager who had utilised his time better as his side came out the traps fastest and forced the visitors onto the the backfoot. With their high pressing football the Hornets hunted in packs and badgered the United players into a catalogue of mistakes.
And their tactics almost paid off after seven minutes as Bruno Fernandes’ miscued clearance ended up in his own box, forcing Scott McTominay into bringing down Joshua King. Referee Jon Moss pointed to the spot, but Ismaïla Sarr couldn’t convert with two attempts. The first was chalked off after Kiko Femenia was deemed to have encroached before poking the ball past David de Gea. Then the retake was well saved by the United keeper.
Just before the half hour mark Watford were ahead thanks to an Emmanuel Dennis assist, as the forward did well to make a yard of space in the box before setting up King for the simplest of tap-ins from six yards out. Five minutes before the interval Watford doubled their lead with Sarr finally getting on the scoresheet. The forward latched onto a cut back from Femenia and made no mistake as he fired his low effort into the far corner past de Gea.
At half time Solskjaer made a double change giving Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek a chance to make an impact off the bench. And it was the Dutchman who took his chance five minutes after coming on as he headed Ronaldo’s centre into the back of the net.
As United grew into the game they were hit with a hammer blow as captain Harry Maguire was shown a red for two clumsy challenges.
United continued to search for an equaliser, but they failed to capitalise on a host of chances with Watford grabbing two late goals. The first through young substitute João Pedro who fired a low effort past de Gea and the second from Dennis who muscled his way into the box and slotted the ball home.
Next up for the Hornets is an away trip to take on Leicester City at the King Power stadium, whilst United return to European action against Villarreal before taking on Chelsea in the league.