Claudio Ranieri was pleased with what he saw in last weekend's impressive win at Everton but has quickly turned his attention to Saturday's visit of Southampton back in the Premier League.
Ranieri has used training this week to work on the mistakes at Goodison Park, where the Hornets ran out 5-2 winners against the Toffees despite going behind on two occasions.
The Head Coach was full of praise for several players in his team as well as Saturday’s opposition, who he watched in their Carabao Cup defeat on penalties against Chelsea on Tuesday night.
And with Danny Rose back in full training, the Italian told the media about the left-back’s hard work during the week.
“Danny Rose is getting better and I will check everything tomorrow,” said Ranieri. “He is working very hard to improve his fitness, and then I hope he can improve day by day.
“Of course the boost [beating Everton] was very important, as were the three points on the table, but we must forget what happened and continue in this way. We have a difficult match because every match in the Premier League is difficult, we must be careful and play with intelligence.
“I was satisfied after the match, but afterwards I think immediately of the next match. I went to watch Chelsea against Southampton in the Carabao Cup and I saw a good, well-organised team. They made a lot of changes and played so well. It is a dangerous match on Saturday.”
Emmanuel Dennis will be unavailable this weekend through a one-match suspension, but there is still plenty of attacking quality for the Head Coach to choose from. Hat-trick hero Joshua King is one who has caught his eye, as well as Cucho Hernández, João Pedro and Ismaïla Sarr.
Sarr was substituted in last week’s win, and despite it not being a regular occurrence for the winger, the Watford Head Coach believes he is even more motivated now for the match against the Saints.
“I will miss Dennis, but I’m sure whoever plays in his position for him can do very well,” said Ranieri.
“I said well done to Joshua, not for the hat-trick but how he played. Very well! He held the ball, he gave time to his teammates to come and close every action.
“João [Pedro], I like him a lot. He is young, has lots of skills and I think slowly he can come directly into the first team and play lots of matches.
“I think Ismaïla understood my substitution. I spoke with him, and I think he will be very, very motivated in the next match.
“At the moment Cucho [Hernández] is working very well and in training sessions, everytime he shoots he scores goals. He has goals in his blood.”
Ahead of this Saturday’s match at the Vic Ranieri hopes to give the home crowd reason to cheer, and knows the team must be at their best to face Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side who currently lie two spots below the 14th-placed Golden Boys in the standings.
“I think we played so badly against Liverpool and very well against Everton, now I want to see the next match against Southampton,” he explained. “They are a very tough team, they press together, they are all together and we must be very intelligent to play against them.”
