Ole Gunnar Solskjær believes a lack of urgency lay behind Manchester United’s shock defeat against Watford, going as far as to accuse his players of performing at testimonial pace in the first half.

Goals from Ismaïla Sarr and Troy Deeney inside five second-half minutes helped Watford secure only their second victory of the season and first at home. They remain bottom but are now level on points with 19th-placed Norwich ahead of the Boxing Day visit to Sheffield United.

For the visitors this was a first defeat in seven league games and one that was reminiscent of their worst displays of the campaign in its lack of spark and intent. Bar Jesse Lingard’s miss on 33 minutes United created very little of serious note and their manager, on the anniversary of his first game in charge of the club, offered further criticism of his team after he had said they lacked ideas during last week’s 1-1 draw with Everton.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Solskjær. “You have to come to these stadiums and get more points, but there was no intent or urgency to make us win this game. The first half it could easily have been my testimonial. It was very subdued, slow, no tempo, and in the end we gave them two goals.”

That was certainly the case in regards to Watford’s first goal given the shocking ease with which David de Gea allowed Sarr’s shot to slip through his grasp. The goalkeeper was distraught afterwards, lying face down on the grass and in no hurry to get back up again. Given that, it was perhaps no surprise Solskjær did not lay into the 29-year-old.

“He might have been thinking about where he was going to go from there because one of the things we are looking for now is that, when he catches it, we are looking to go quickly forward,” said Solskjær. “Maybe he was thinking about the next action.”

For Nigel Pearson this was a perfect way to mark his first home game in charge of Watford. He described the win as an “important result” but also made clear there remains a lot of work to do if his team are to maintain their top-flight status. “We have to focus game by game on playing as close to our maximum as we can,” he said. “I have seen lots to encourage myself that we are capable of that.”