Valérien Ismaël spoke to the media after Jake Livermore’s double saw the Hornets beat QPR 2-1 away from home.
Covering a range of topics, including Livermore’s goals and the performance of keeper Ben Hamer, read what the Head Coach had to say below…
On today’s performance:
It was a great away performance. We saw everything in the game that we expected; it’s a tough place to come and get points. In the first half we were under control and stable but we didn’t have big chances to score, although we were under control and we were calm.
We said there were two things we needed to change for the second half – first we needed to stop making mistakes because we lost too many balls and we created momentum for QPR. We also needed to shoot on target more to make sure we had the possibility to score.
We were lucky in the beginning of the second half with the big save from Ben [Hamer], from our mistake again, but otherwise we were solid. We scored a goal at the right moment and after that it was all about staying solid because when you are away you know the opponent will get chances.
On more goals scored from outside the area:
The more you shoot on target, the more chance you’ve got to score. You force the opponent to defend and the rebound is always there so we are working on those situations and putting our players in situations to score outside the box.
It’s not the first goal we’ve scored like that, but we have to make sure it’s always on our mind.
On Livermore’s goals:
Like I said, this is our way to play. Throughout the season we’ve scored a lot of goals from midfield play outside the box.
It’s not Jake’s job to score goals but we are pleased for him because he has great mentality and he’s a very important player for us. He’s an example for all the young players in our squad.
He had difficulty at the start of the season but now he’s found his rhythm and we can see how important he is for us.
On Ben Hamer’s display:
Now everyone starts to see why we took the decision for Ben. We know the quality he brings to the team, we’ve got two great keepers and it’s always the balance to see what is the best for the team and I think today you saw again why.
On Rhys Healey’s first league start:
I think that he did the job well. We have some principles for our number nine, especially linking play and he was good. It’s something we need more of – we need more from our number nine.
We’ve got three possibilities [Healey, Mileta Rajović and Vakoun Bayo], but they know what they have to do, they know their job and it was a great game from Rhys today.
