Marco Silva felt Manchester United's three-goal half-time lead was a Christmas gift come early from his Watford players tonight.

An Ashley Young double and a third from Anthony Martial gave the Red Devils and all-too-easy substantial lead at the break, aided by a Watford defence at sixes and sevens when put under pressure.

An inquiry has not yet begun into why the Hornets were "nervous", in Silva's eyes, after falling a goal behind, but before he asks those questions he will reflect more fondly on what came close to a memorable comeback at Vicarage Road.

"Manchester United scored three goals because we gave them those moments," he said.

"I believe we started very well, the first 20 minutes. We controlled our opponent well, and played in the final third.

"But the first time they went in our box the details started to change things. They went in our box three times and scored three times.

"After the first goal our players got a bit nervous. That’s not normal for us. The third goal is a good example; we could have cleared it two or three times and made simple mistakes.

"With 30-35 minutes on the clock, it’s not easy with 15 minutes still to go before half-time because of the scoreline.

"I talked to the players at half-time and said we had to go and play like it’s 0-0. Forget the result, and what has happened, because the individual details had made a difference.

"If you look for the game, everything was too balanced for the result. We had to go and play our game, and see the result in the end.

"It’s not normal, maybe they felt the pressure. It’s not normal for this team, we’ll talk.

"Maybe it was playing against a big team; some of our players are still young and it is the first time they have played Manchester United. We’ll analyse it."