Gosling: “We Have To Keep Up The Energy Levels”

Dan Gosling called on the Hornets to continue the intensity set in their 2-1 win over Norwich City as they look ahead to two games in the next week against Millwall and Luton Town.

The Watford midfielder, shifted to right-back to cover for injuries, made a vital challenge in the second half to prevent a Canaries equaliser, after Josh Sargent responded to Imrân Louza and Keinan Davis’ goals with a strike of his own just before the break.

With the Golden Boys forced to defend deep into their own half and fend off set-pieces at the death, Gosling described the team’s elation at the sound of the full-time whistle.

“It was a long six minutes of added time!” Gosling laughed. “The second half dragged on, we had spells but in the first half we could have put the game to bed. We conceded just before half-time which put a bit of a downer on the first-half performance because it was probably the best 45 minutes of the season so far.

“We missed a penalty, Will [Troost-Ekong] had a shot that could have gone in, and we could have gone into half-time three or four up.

“We knew we performed well [in the first half] and had to come out fast and aggressive, but Norwich are a good team, they put us under pressure, a lot of corners which we defended well. The subs that came on were great, [Samuel] Kalu’s challenge and Edo [Kayembe]’s performance; brilliant.”

Feeling the benefits of a full week of training under new Head Coach Slaven Bilić, the 32-year-old saw an urgency to the team’s overall performance that was missing in previous matches.

“Intensity has been lacking in our game,” Gosling admitted. “We have all the talent and great players but have missing ingredients and intensity is one of them. This week has been good, it’s the first week we’ve had with him [Bilić] and we have to keep the performances going and keep up the energy levels.”

Gosling has been part of the backline twice now, having featured in last week’s 3-1 defeat to Blackpool away from home. He hopes he can nail down a regular starting spot in the team in that position, and is using past experience in the role to help on the right side of defence.

“A few of the boys have been calling me Dani Alves this week!” joked Gosling. “I started my career there and played quite a few games there a long time ago now. It’s something I feel I can do, I’m learning it on the job but sometimes that’s the best way. I feel like as a central midfielder I should be able to see the pitch and put in good performances. It’s a shame we lost last week but if we can get a winning run going hopefully I can stay there.”