Jose Mourinho claimed his Manchester United stars should have been "smoking cigars" instead of holding off a Watford fightback during the Red Devils' pulsating 4-2 Premier League win on Tuesday night.
Ashley Young put United two goals up within 25 minutes at Vicarage Road, and Anthony Martial made it 3-0 seven minutes later to put the Red Devils in total control.
Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku wasted presentable chances to hand United a four-goal cushion, and Watford almost made the visitors pay as Troy Deeney's penalty and Abdoulaye Doucoure's strike closed the gap to just one goal with six minutes left.
Fortunately for Mourinho, Jesse Lingard's brilliant solo goal settled United's nerves just two minutes after Doucoure's strike - but the Old Trafford manager left his players under no illusions as to how they let their second-half performance slip.
"The second half should have been five or 6-0, it was easier to score than the first," he told BBC's Match of the Day. "We missed chances.
"Out of nothing, they got a penalty for 3-1, then it was a different game. It was an easy match to win comfortably.
"At 3-2 the game is in the balance then Jesse Lingard had the initiative to kill the game.
"Both him and Ashley Young scored great goals. We missed 4-0 with some actions and Romelu Lukaku had an open goal, Paul Pogba had a free header too.
"They were full of confidence after, they had nothing to lose could play the way they do and got back into the game. We should be smoking cigars but then were in trouble."
