Hornets Head Coach Rob Edwards was disappointed with the defeat to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, with his side narrowly missing out to the visitors 3-2 at Vicarage Road.
In Watford’s first defeat in the Sky Bet Championship this campaign, Rangers struck three times and were able to secure the victory despite Ken Sema and João Pedro’s replies.
Edwards was frustrated with how the game developed, and believes the Hornets will need to be more ruthless in front of goal when in the ascendancy in the future.
“I’m disappointed with the final result,” Edwards began. “We lost a game of football, we lost at home, and we conceded three goals, so there is a lot of disappointment there.
“Right now, I feel frustrated because I thought we had control in large periods of the game, especially when we got back to 2-2. We started the second half well on the front foot and we got the equaliser, but then we stopped doing what was getting us success.
“We went a bit safe and didn’t take the risks that were necessary. QPR banked up, got men behind the ball, which they are well within their rights to do, and they defended well, and we didn’t break that down well enough or test their goalkeeper enough.
“We didn’t, as a team, defend the transition well enough today either. We have to improve, us and myself, in those moments. We have to make sure that when we are on top in games that we are ruthless.”
Despite the result, Edwards felt there were positives in Watford’s attacking efforts and in particular the intelligence to find space in-behind QPR’s defence.
He continued: “We started to recognise where the space was, which was outside and behind them. If you make a straight run then you’ll probably be offside, so we had to start timing our runs better and angling our runs.
“That’s exactly what we did with our first goal. It was well worked and well executed because we recognised where the space was. João Pedro’s pace and Ken Sema’s run [created the first] goal.
“Their third goal happened, and we had a little bit of a wobble, and you could feel it and sense it. We needed to recover, and we did somewhat because we ended up pushing and scored that offside goal, but here we are now.”
The boss believes that the return of João Pedro and Ismaïla Sarr aided the team in the offensive third against the Hoops, but with many players still on the sidelines due to injury, it may take time to see a full-strength side on the pitch.
“It was great to have Ismaïla Sarr and João Pedro in the team for us because when they are fit, they are big threats for us,” Edwards added. “You saw their quality at times today, but as a team, we need to do both sides of the game well.
“It has been difficult, because there has been lots of speculation and we have been changing the team a lot for various reasons. There have been some challenges.
“I don’t think you will see the best of us for a few more weeks, because we haven’t been able to get some of the new players on the pitch yet and people need to settle in. We will get better in the coming weeks.”
