Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann was disappointed with the lacklustre performance that saw his side fall to a 2-0 defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.
The Austrian shot-stopper, who made a few crucial stops to keep the Hornets within range of catching Boro, was frustrated with the gap in quality between the two teams throughout the 90 minutes.
“It was nowhere near good enough,” Bachmann began. “It’s simple to say that they were better on the day, but we made them look good. We played some nice football when it was 2-0, but they were so much better than us today in every single aspect, whether it was five-yard passes, whether it was running or tackling.
“It felt like every time they had the ball they had a chance of scoring a goal, which is just nowhere near good enough. We only had one or two chances to score. It’s just not good enough, and it happens too often unfortunately.”
Bachmann pointed to Boro’s second goal just before the interval as a key point in the match, halting any Watford momentum.
He continued: “It obviously kills you if you’re 2-0 down going into half-time. I think we couldn’t have made it any easier for them with the goals they scored. Fair play to them because they played some nice football, but they went through us like a knife through butter every time they had the ball.
“It’s not just the goals, it's when we have the ball as well. We need to take more responsibility and play with a bit of swagger and arrogance, because that’s what you need to succeed. You can’t go out there and expect to make mistakes and be afraid.
“We’ve got to go out there with our heads up, perform and enjoy playing football. We are playing football - we should enjoy it - and for most parts of today, and not just today, it happens too often. It looks like we are forced to be out there on the pitch, and that needs to change quickly. We know we’ve got the quality, so we need to start showing it.”
Focusing on the future and praising the travelling Watford faithful for their unconditional backing, Bachmann is hoping he and his teammates can put the record straight when they face Reading next weekend (Saturday February 4, 3pm KO).
He added: “We are a good team and a good group. We’ve got a solid team of leaders and we’ve got to make sure we cancel these performances out or minimise them. Performances like this are going to happen, but we need to make sure we minimise them in the last 17 games and do the best that we can.
“We are travelling back down south now with recovery tomorrow. We need to make sure everyone is alright and then back to training at the start of next week. We need to bounce back with one point in our last two games, and we need to make sure we win next Saturday and win the week after and the week after.
“We’ve got to go home now and probably won’t sleep. And I speak for the fans too who probably won’t sleep well, and with a long journey back. It’s incredibly difficult to get here so to see the numbers they’ve brought again, and we’ve disappointed them once again, on a long journey. It just hurts on so many levels.
“As I said, next week we’ve got 17 games left and we have to try and win as many as possible and chase the top two. We are not going to give up until it’s mathematically impossible, and we need to make sure we finish as high as we can in the league and get back to the Premier League.”
