Watford Head Coach Slaven Bilić was delighted with his side’s performance as he presided over a 4-0 victory against Stoke City in his first outing as the Hornets’ boss.
Ismaïla Sarr got Watford off to the perfect start as he headed in the opener, before second-half goals from Ken Sema, Keinan Davis and Vakoun Bayo sealed an impressive win at the Bet365 Stadium.
Bilić was delighted with the intensity and work rate shown by his squad against a resolute Potters team, and acknowledges that this is the perfect opening chapter to his time at The Vic.
“It’s great for us and it’s a great start,” Bilić began. “It’s a well-deserved clean sheet with four goals scored by the strikers and forwards, which is what you really want. That’s what you dream about before the game.
“We were really good, especially after the second goal. You can tell the players whatever you want, but you need the proof on the pitch and we needed that second goal to unleash the potential, creativity and courage of our squad. We did exactly that and we were serious until the end of the game.
“It was always going to be a difficult away game against a difficult opponent that is in form. Alex Neil’s teams are very aggressive and direct and they caused us problems in the first half and the start of the second with their directness and corners.
“We suffered together and we defended as a team. The back four defended great and they were protected by two midfielders who were fantastic today.
“If you give us space, to our players wide and upfront – they are good players.”
The Croatian believes the Hornets’ second-tier know-how and experience from previous campaigns will be vital this season, as he bids to secure promotion back to the Premier League.
“The good thing about this squad is that this isn’t a Premier League team that went down and they now have to learn about the Championship – that’s one of the reasons why I came here,” he added.
“We have many players, 80 per cent, who have played 50, 100, 200 games in the Premier League and have also played 50 games in the Championship, and you can’t buy that. That is great experience. They know what is needed when we go to Stoke or Preston or anywhere else. We have the potential, but so do five, six, or seven sides.
“We have a balanced squad that can be used in any system. Today, because of injuries, we were limited in how we had to play in a specific way, but when they are all fit this is a very balanced squad. It has quality, energy, experience and with that youthfulness that isn’t afraid to take risks. It’s a good squad.”
Despite the free-scoring victory, Bilić remains level-headed and recognises that Watford can still improve heading into a busy fixture schedule. He will be hoping to use this performance as a platform to build upon in the upcoming encounters.
He continued: “I’d like them to be braver, which is difficult, but I would like them to play with confidence whether it’s 0-0 or we are losing, which isn’t always easy. You have the crowd, the media and the question marks, but that’s the goal – to play with confidence no matter what the result is.
“Of course, I’m happy with the result, but this is the Championship and we have another game in three days. We have a very good first XI and the guys who came off the bench today are good players and they raised our level.
“We are a little bit thin [on squad depth] because some of our very important players are injured, but apart from Tom Cleverley and Rey Manaj, most of them should be back within a week or two.
“The group is really good and we aren’t going to rave now because we won, but this is a blueprint that we want to follow. There were some mistakes when Stoke put us under pressure, but this is a great example of what we should do and we can improve on this.
“It’s always the best when you have something to look at and improve upon. We can build on this, and we showed that today.”
