Watford manager Roy Hodgson felt there was a significant difference in quality between Manchester City and the Golden Boys following a disappointing 5-1 defeat.
Gabriel Jesus scored an early brace for the home side before Hassane Kamara fired one back for Watford. Despite the Hornets’ best efforts, Rodri got Manchester City back on track, while Jesus scored two more to complete the victory for the Citizens.
Hodgson knew it would be a tough challenge taking on Pep Guardiola’s side, who currently occupy the top step of the Premier League table, with the gap in quality reflected on the scoresheet.
“All defeats are tough to take but we were architects of our downfall to some degree, particularly relating to the timing of the goals at the start of each half,” said Hodgson.
“The scoreline reflects the difference between the two teams and there's no point covering that up. At 2-1 down we were making a decent fist of it, as much as I could expect of the players. But we've paid a heavy price for giving them a fourth goal at the start of the second half.
“If we were going to have any hope of making them work harder for their victory then we needed to keep a clean sheet for far longer than we did.
“Our belief last week was dented somewhat with that late goal [against Brentford], so next week is about trying to lift up people's confidence and getting them to put this game aside. We need learn from our mistakes.”
One of the noteworthy positives for the Hornets was the performance of Kamara, who notched his first goal for the Golden Boys. The Watford boss was pleased with the Ivorian’s contribution.
“He [Kamara] had a good game today,” Hodgson added. “There were performances out of the 11 players that I’m not unhappy with and [Dennis and Kamara] are two of them who have done extremely well.
“If you’re going to get something here, you need to get quite a few ticks by a lot of players who you can say did well today and he [Kamara] had a good game. I don’t think we had enough ticks.”
Looking ahead to another crucial game in the battle to avoid the drop, Hodgson is aware of the significance of the upcoming encounters, as the Hornets face Burnley at Vicarage Road next weekend (Saturday April 30, 3pm KO).
“We're going to need to do better to get points from our next batch of games,” he said.
“We won't find ourselves under the same stress and pressure as today, so then comes a different challenge of how much we can cause the opposition problems.
“We've got to try and engender the hope we need to give ourselves a chance. I haven't had the feeling we've lost games because of a lack of spirit or heart; we're getting punished for most, if not all the mistakes we're making.
“Ray [Lewington] and I came in with high hopes of keeping the club from relegation. It's not happening yet, but it's not over yet. This job is no harder comparatively than any other job I've had and we're still working to encourage the players to believe they can deliver what's required in these final five games.”
