Claudio Ranieri was delighted with how his Watford side reacted to going behind twice in Saturday’s 5-2 away win against Everton, and praised the character of the team, singling out Joshua King for his goals and work on the ball.
The Watford Head Coach oversaw his first full week of training with the squad ahead of the match at Goodison Park and received the fruits of his labour in the victory, with King scoring a hat-trick, and Juraj Kucka and Emmanuel Dennis netting second-half goals.
Despite scoring five away from home Ranieri wants to look at the goals conceded with his team next week, as they look to continue their improvement.
“We conceded an early goal but for us it was important to react,” said Ranieri. “Everytime I speak with my players our mood must be to never give up.
“It was important, the character, the strength to react. Suddenly, in nine minutes we scored three times, it was amazing.”
“I’m very, very happy,” he continued. “Last week I didn’t have Joshua King and today I had Joshua King. King had a fantastic match, not only because he scored a hat-trick but because he held the ball, kept the ball and all the duels were fantastic, in every action.
“The result is important but before it’s important how you work, how you fight in every duel. Today I am very satisfied but also I watched some things that weren’t good for us in a defensive way.”
Ranieri had more time in the week to instil his managerial philosophy, as well as using his decades of experience to help his players. The Italian was pleased with how the squad understood what was asked of them, and went on to achieve his objectives.
He said: “Today my philosophy was very clear, the players worked with me for one week, and slowly we get better. We have to fight in every duel, first ball, second ball. I am very, very pleased with our performance today.
“We changed the mood, we changed the system, the players understood my ideas and we scored five goals. That doesn’t mean we will win every match but it’s important to fight in this way.”
