Damon Lathrope spoke to the media after Watford’s narrow 2-1 defeat away at Sunderland on Sunday (October 1).
Carly Johns’ fourth goal of the season came too late for the Golden Girls to claim any points in the North East, with first-half strikes from Natasha Fenton and Mary McAteer proving enough to earn the home side the full share of the spoils.
Covering a range of topics, including the performance as a whole, what he felt was lacking and Sunderland’s early goal, read what the Head Coach had to say below…
On the performance as a whole:
My initial reflection after the game is that we weren't good enough. I don't think we deserved anything, because we didn't perform to the levels that we know we can.
As a group, we're really disappointed we didn't do the basics as well as we needed to against a team that probably pride themselves on doing those basics really well. I would probably say we got what we deserved today.
On what he felt was missing:
A few bits in possession - we went a little bit too long and too much from deep, which is kind of against our principles. We'd identified how we could get better in certain areas and that was definitely creating a little bit more with forward runs and passes, but it's about picking the right moments to do that which we maybe didn't get quite right today.
Then on the other side of it, it's about making sure we run harder than our opponents. We always acknowledge that we are up against it when it comes to the physical output in a game, but we need to give everything we've got and we can't afford to allow opponents to impose their physicality on us. We've got to at least match it so that our control and our footballing ability can have the impact we want it to on the game.
On the influence of Sunderland's early goal:
I wouldn't say it was hugely influential, though it definitely didn't help. It was a really cheap goal to give away - for all the good football and nice passing, you've got to defend the box because that's where games are won or lost.
We know that - we work really hard and spend a lot of time on set-pieces - but we have to show more discipline to not give cheap fouls away. We're not the biggest of teams, so we don't want to give anyone a free opportunity to stick the ball in a dangerous area.
On facing Southampton at home next:
They're probably favourites for the league title, so we know games don't come much tougher than that. We're not going to go into it overly concerned about them, though. For us, I think it's a great fixture for to go into - a lot of people will write us off, but hopefully we can use today as a bit of a wake-up call.
If we play to the levels we're capable of and stick to our principles, I fully expect us to be able to compete with them. So, in my eyes it is the perfect fixture for us. Being back at home will help, and there will be a reaction from the players. I'm sure they're disappointed, they know they've not hit the levels that they can today, but I'm really looking forward to next week.
*Photo credit: Kasey Taylor and Sunderland AFC
