Ismaïla Sarr stole the show with a quickfire brace but Xisco Muñoz heaped the praise on his entire squad after the victory against Reading, including the substitutes who came on and saw out the game for a 20th league clean sheet of the season.
“I’m very happy with Sarr, because today he had a very good performance. But I want to say congrats to all my players because they were all at a big level,” said the Head Coach.
“Sometimes I say I have 24 players ready to play and you don’t believe me! But today when Cathcart, Gray, Isaac or Carlos played, I think they were at a very good level. This is the team spirit we need, and this is very nice for us.”
Carlos Sánchez put in arguably his strongest performance yet in a Watford shirt, coming off the bench at half-time as the hosts calmed things down and controlled the game after an end-to-end opening period.
“Carlos was in an excellent level. He understands. We know about Carlos, his experience, the level of this player. He gave the balance the team needed in this moment,” said Muñoz.
“But I don’t want to give credit only to one player. The players gave the maximum in offence, in defence, in set-pieces, in all the situations. We’re at a good level and I want to say congratulations to everyone. Carlos gave a big level but today the whole team were at a good level.
“I’m very happy because I think all our fans stay very happy with our players and they’re proud of our players. The players are always giving 100 per cent when they are on the pitch. We are working like a team and always everyone is very happy with this attitude.”
Muñoz showed no signs of any Manager of the Month curse, having been named the winner of the March award this morning. The Spaniard in particular used his substitutes well to manage the game against a Reading team which won the reverse fixture in October.
“We knew the level of our opponent. We had a very good team in front of us with very good players and very good tactics,” said Muñoz.
“We started the game in high intensity at a high level. Sometimes it happens [when you don’t control the game], but the most important thing is in the second half we were safer, and they didn’t have chances to score.
“Sometimes we speak about the team being mature and they were mature today. We’re consistent in our games and you know more or less what is our level. Everyone has given a big level in the last 20 or 21 games.
“The team is not waiting, the team is always ready to go for the game. It’s amazing when everyone in the team has the same ambition and it’s the moment to continue working very hard. This is three points more and we can enjoy this for 30 minutes, but after 30 minutes we need to think about the next game.”
