Valérien Ismaël spoke to the media following Watford’s 0-0 draw against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Covering a range of topics, including his thoughts on extending the Hornets’ unbeaten run to five and the lack of attacking threat, read what the Head Coach had to say below…
On the game as a whole:
The game was difficult today. The game plan from the opponent was tough and I understand why when they have so many players injured, and they have conceded eight goals in their last two games. Their first task was defending and focusing on that. They made it difficult. We were under control, won duels and didn’t concede many set-pieces – we defended much better – but it was our work in the final third [that let us down]. That final pass, we should’ve shot more, shown more quality in one versus one situations and our crosses. We need to take more risks in the last third.
It’s nice to see that we are disappointed having not won away, that’s what I just said to the players. For sure, we have shown improvement since a few weeks ago – it’s our third away game unbeaten. If you see the statistics, we are on the right path.
It’s the first time we have faced a game plan like this, so it will help us to improve in the future. It is another clean sheet and another positive to take. It’s five matches unbeaten but we want more and we are disappointed, which shows we are moving in the right direction.
On the lack of attacking threat:
We have the quality, but we needed to take the risk. We shot once or twice in the first-half and second-half, and that’s not enough when you dominate the game. On the other hand, when you see where we have come from in terms of our away performances, it’s about taking it step-by-step.
On controlling the majority of possession:
When you are under control you don’t want to give the opponent the chance to counter attack, so you need to be patient. We started the second-half strongly, the pressure was there, but we didn’t have that big chance to score. We will work on it. We are building and now the next game is important. Next we play Rotherham United (November 11, 3pm KO), so now it’s all about that game.
