English FA Premiership/ Watford 1 Manchester Utd 2: Rio Ferdinand might have damaged a toe but Manchester United rarely broke sweat as they continued their sanguine start with a matter-of-fact win against a fitful Watford who failed to produce the intensity of performance the occasion demanded.

Fate and the fixture list have decreed that Alex Ferguson's latest attempt to regain the title, which last went to Old Trafford three years ago, should begin amid the Premiership's foothills. Apart from home encounters with Arsenal and Liverpool, United's early opponents are more likely to seek survival than glory.

Had United's finishing matched the excellence of their build-ups Watford would surely have been punished as heavily as Fulham, beaten 5-1 on the opening day, or Charlton Athletic, swept aside 3-0 in midweek. Instead Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo squandered chances to put the contest beyond Watford's reach long before the final whistle.

Then again, with Ruud van Nistelrooy departed and Wayne Rooney suspended, Ferguson is reputedly short of strikers just now. Not that one would know it with 10 goals scored by eight different players in the first week. The only caveat to be offered is that United won their first three fixtures last season then gained only two wins in the next seven.

At least the narrowness of United's lead on Saturday offered a modicum of hope to Adrian Boothroyd's newly-promoted team until the closing seconds when Watford might have forced an unlikely draw had Marlon King managed to get his head to a ball nodded on by Daniel Shittu from Lloyd Doyley's long throw-in.

The moment had Ferguson haranguing all and sundry from the touchline. Boothroyd was asked whether the old hairdryer had said anything to him : "Yeah, he said 'Get out of my way'."

Michael Carrick, in his first game as a United player, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, starting for the first time in two years, played steadily enough yet Ferguson did not think much of his team's performance overall. "When we counter-attacked we should have passed the ball better," he complained. "We're normally good at this but that quality deserted us in these moments. It really needed somebody to put their foot on the ball and enjoy passing the ball but I didn't think they did that today."

Presumably Ryan Giggs was excluded from such criticism. The 32-year-old Welshman has begun the season in vintage form and on Saturday consistently reminded Vicarage Road of what is meant by the term "commanding the ball". Giggs did just that, turning up in space all over the pitch to gain possession and dictate the pace and pattern of United's movements.

He instigated the opening goal after 12 minutes, bringing the ball forward before giving Saha the opportunity to find Mikael Silvestre overlapping on the left. The French defender met no opposition as he cut in to beat Richard Lee with a shot coolly dispatched low into the far corner.

Boothroyd's Watford clearly lack the class of the side Graham Taylor took into the old first division 24 years ago. Taylor's team were derided for their direct approach yet still managed to finish runners-up to Liverpool that season. The present Watford team look to King to hold the ball up front with Damien Francis giving support from midfield and Ashley Young providing accurate centres from the right.

On Saturday, however, it was more than half an hour before Watford could establish any sort of presence in the game. Then Young sold Silvestre an elementary dummy, Ferdinand was unable to intercept a low cross and an unmarked Francis brought the scores level.

The pivotal moment for Watford came early in the second half when a low drive from King, following a short free-kick near the left-hand corner of the United area, took a deflection and found Darius Henderson unattended at the far post. A prod with his right foot and Watford would have been in front but he used his left and squirted the ball across goal. In the next instant Matthew Spring, who had replaced Hameur Bouazza after half an hour, passed back straight to Giggs, who rounded Lee to restore United's lead.

Boothroyd was scathing about Watford's performance which he described as the worst of their three Premiership displays so far. "We need to decide whether we are going to be a force in this league or whether we're going to lie down," he declared. "I have seen enough of every player to know they are capable of playing in this division."

Whether Boothroyd is right only time will tell. That and how well his players manage to stop giving the ball away.

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