José Mourinho had to wait a long time to fulfil his ambition of becoming manager of Manchester United and now that he is at Old Trafford he needs still more patience. From himself, firstly, as his fall at Chelsea last season suggests there is a risk of him unravelling if he allows himself to become too frustrated by the inadequacies he has inherited at United. This he knows, which is why he was a picture of practiced calm as he explained after the defeat at Vicarage Road that when he took the job, “I was completely aware that we were not perfect, with lots of players who are not end products and can make their own mistakes”.

Their own mistakes, mind you. That is a formulation that brings us on to the second point: Mourinho also needs patience from others – the fans, employers and perhaps even players, who must be disappointed that the manager has not yet shown that he can make the most of that squad at his disposal, flawed though it is.

The most incriminating aspect of United’s start as far as Mourinho is concerned is not inconsistency from young players but a lack of clarity from a seasoned manager. At his very first press conference at Old Trafford, back in July, Mourinho made a point of saying he had no truck with wishy-washy compromises: he wanted specialists in every position. And yet at Watford, for a game laden with added significance on the back of defeats to Manchester City and Feyenoord, he had no specialists between defence and attack. His whole midfield was a muddle.

That was largely – though not exclusively – because Wayne Rooney assumed exactly the role that Mourinho insisted he would not be given, the deep-lying playmaker with licence to dictate the tempo of play. A slow, ponderous tempo. “You can tell me his pass is amazing but my pass is also amazing without pressure,” Mourinho scoffed in July and yet here the Portuguese was in September, seemingly, like Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce, allowing his team to be disrupted by a diminished Rooney.

Rooney sprayed a couple of good long passes when he found enough space to be without pressure but mostly his passes were notable only for their banality or, when the game speeded up, for their inaccuracy. It was hard to understand why he was selected ahead of Michael Carrick, Morgan Schneiderlin or Daley Blind, all three of whom are still closer than Rooney to being zippy specialists in the role. Removing Blind from central defence made sense because Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly were more likely to cope with the physical challenge posed by Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo, but the downside of that was that United lost a sharp passer from the back, and none of the midfielders took up the slack effectively. Blind could have done if pushed further forward rather than dropped.

When Anthony Martial needed treatment for a head injury in the 27th minute, Rooney discussed tactics with Mourinho; and throughout the entire match he offered unsolicited advice to the referee, Michael Oliver. The overall impression was of a player whose role now can best be described as midfield lobbyist.

José Mourinho with Marouane Fellaini, who was his most inventive midfielder against Watford. Photograph: Joe Toth/BPI/Rex Shutterstock

From a poor selection Marouane Fellaini was United’s most inventive central midfielder although he seemed to have been assigned holding duty, which tends to default to him on the grounds that he is big rather than exceptionally vigilant. As for the wide midfielders, none have been truly convincing so far under Mourinho. Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have not made compelling cases for inclusion. Nor has the out-of-form Anthony Martial, with whom Mourinho nonetheless persisted at Watford, while Marcus Rashford was given his first league start of the campaign. Rashford was United’s best attacker without being close to his best. He got a little bit lucky with his goal but he deserved it for the smart interplay with Zlatan Ibrahimovic before that, and took it well.

And the world’s most expensive player in all of this? Paul Pogba struggled to make himself relevant. Although he will appear in the highlights thanks to a wonderful dipping shot against the crossbar in the first half, he was most often on the periphery of play, loping about with none of his natural self-confidence. In the first half, in particular, it looked like he was not sure what he was supposed to be doing given Rooney’s pretensions, or that Rooney was trying to run the game because Pogba was hiding. It is surprising that roles do not yet seem clearer under Mourinho.

The manager’s formation change in the second half did not make as much difference as it had done against Manchester City. Rooney spent more time out wide but did not make good use of the extra space, and Pogba did not gain more influence in the middle.

Mourinho said United’s haphazard form is more or less what he expected because of the number of inexperienced players in his squad. “My only doubt was about the way they can cope with the negative moments that come sooner or later,” he said, adding: “I feel that some individuals probably feel that pressure and responsibility too much.” The balance is not right at United. To get it right will take time, and the clarity of thought to recognise that Rooney’s is up.