Ryan Porteous spoke to watfordfc.com following Saturday’s (August 19) 1-0 defeat to Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium, with the Hornets suffering their first loss of the 2023/24 Sky Bet Championship campaign.
Read the defender’s thoughts below…
It was very disappointing. We didn’t start the game well. I think the conditions were tough, but it’s not an excuse. We need to get the ball down more and be braver on the ball. We always have the options that the manager puts in front of us to keep the ball. Maybe we felt the conditions in our head a little bit more than they actually ended up affecting us.
We did well to stay in the game and I thought we defended brilliantly in the first half. The manager had a go at us at half-time and he told us to get our act together, start playing and I felt we did. We reacted well and we conceded a sloppy goal on our part. The reaction from that was good, but it is about fine margins in these games, and I’m not sure we deserved anything from the game.
We got the ball down [in the second half], and I think the wind plays a massive factor. They kept a high line in the first half because the ball will always run through to the goalkeeper. In the second half it flips and you have the option to stretch the game.
We are all good enough players and we’re all experienced enough to get the ball down, keep playing and be brave enough. It’s very disappointing and I think it’s a lesson learned. I don’t think we can accept days like this and performances like that, especially with the amount of times that it happened last season. As a group, we won’t accept that.
Training has always been tough and it has been since the manager has come in. Pre-season was very hard and it hasn’t really changed since then. It is tough, but that is a needs-must. We will be going again. It’s intense and with the squad we have now, we need to improve.
