Valérien Ismaël spoke to the media following Watford’s narrow 1-0 defeat at Stoke City, with André Vidigal’s second-half strike proving the difference between the sides at the Bet365 Stadium.
Covering a range of topics, including the positives and negatives of his team’s display, injury concerns and the upcoming closure of the transfer window, read what the Head Coach had to say below…
On the disappointing aspects of the performance:
Our performance in the first half wasn’t good enough. We didn’t stick to our game plan, and we didn’t do the basics right. We played too much long ball, and we don’t have the players to play like that. We didn’t want to battle for the second ball or engage in duels. There were problems with our decision-making throughout the game, and we kept seeing the same patterns of play.
Sometimes you can have bad days, and I know losing is part of the process, but you have to at least make sure the basics are right. I still want to see the right identity and mentality from the players, and that was missing in the first half.
On the improvement after half-time:
We came out much better after half-time, and we conceded the goal in probably our best period of the match. We created a lot of chances after that, so at least we saw our identity and what we’re about, but we need it for more than just 30 or 45 minutes.
The Championship is a journey, and the players need to learn that it’s ruthless. You have to be on it for the full 90 minutes in every game, otherwise you will be punished like we were today.
On what he expects going forward:
We will learn from the game today, and make sure going forward we are ready to compete straight away, especially away from home. I think we deserve criticism for the fact we didn’t perform for 90 minutes, and we can’t have any excuses for the result. Stoke wanted it more than us in some periods, so we have to accept it.
It is a long, long journey though, and this is only matchday three. The guys need to learn quickly, reflect, keep working on the basics, the mentality and attitude, and when all those things are right we will create more chances and score goals. We’ve seen they’re capable already this season, and even though there’s no guarantee you’ll win games at least you’ll get the feeling you’re in control. Today – especially in the first half – we struggled to get in control.
On James Morris’ withdrawal:
Hopefully it’s just cramp for James, and he’ll be back for next week. It’s not a secret that we don’t have big numbers in that position, but we just have to deal with it for now. We can’t complain or make any excuses.
On options up front:
It’s clear we are very tight in this area of the field, but we have to wait and hopefully we can get someone in. It depends on the market – everyone knows it’s difficult. There’s still time in the transfer window, so let’s see what happens. The first thing for me to do is to prepare for next week, and make sure we’re all on it from the first minute.
On a possible penalty shout in the second half:
It’s a tough one. It think it’s a 50-50 situation, and both teams would think the decision should go in their favour. We had a chance to score just before that through Yáser Asprilla though, so we can’t complain or say we should have won a penalty.
