Following his sides 2-0 defeat at the Stadium Of Light, Watford boss, Valerien Ismael, decided to lock his players in the dressing room for over an hour until he got answers. Here is what he had to say after the match.
NEEDED ANSWERS
“When you lose a game you are not happy, but I needed to have time to have clarity with the players in the changing room. I wanted some answers why we have come from strong performances where we were able to dominate games to a performance where we are not stable.”
CAN’T DO THE BASICS
“I understand that there is a lack of confidence when we are not winning games, but at some point the basic of football is the duels – you have to win the duels. How we conceded the first goal shows, again, at the minute we are not able to do the basics. This is frustrating. It’s a tough away game against a team with a lot of confidence. They had a great season last season and started this season strong and you have to face this.”
NO QUALITY
“We made it so that we didn’t concede big chances, we forced a lot of mistakes and won a lot of balls but in our transition we were not good enough. The decision making was not there, we passed when we should shoot, we shoot when we should pass the ball. We missed out guys wide, and when we shot at the goal it was without conviction to score.”
SECOND GOAL KILLED IT
“The second half I thought we started strong but the second goal made it difficult for us to come back into the game, and even more after the red card which is the way things go in our situation. Nonetheless, I don’t want to complain about decisions.”
CHANGING ROOM LOCKDOWN
“I told the players I need answers. I need answers from them to understand and so we can refocus on the game in a couple of days. That is why we needed a lot of time after the game because I told them we are not going out of the changing room until I am satisfied with your answers. I think it’s not about the two goals, it’s more about the previous games as well. It’s more about that situation. We cannot continue to be like that. It wasn’t about analysing tonight’s game, it was more about the wider situation. We need to change things and I needed answers from the players. Why? Because if the players are able to give me answers, then they will be able to give answers on the pitch on Saturday. If I didn’t get answers tonight, then we won’t have any answers on Saturday. We got a lot of answers. Everybody said something. From that, I think we can work on things for the next game.”
FORGET ABOUT THIS GAME
“We don’t need now to speak too much about this game. We cannot change anything. Now Cardiff is the most important thing for us. Yes. This is what I said. I cannot recognise anything that we worked on with the squad. The only thing I think is the old habits in the club and in the players are there when things don’t work well, there’s always the excuses about what happened with the manager. Maybe they will change the manager so we don’t need to force anything. Or we have relied on top players but they are not here anymore. They try to find any excuse. There is no excuse. There is no excuse. You are able to do the job at the beginning and now you are not able to do the job.”
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
“I understand the Championship: everyone will have a bad run. But you can still apply the values you need to win a game – mentality, win duels, desire, togetherness. These are things we’re missing. I expected that the players might try and go back to their old habits for a few games but there is no excuse anymore. The club has taken responsibility and sent a strong message with the contract and now we are all together. They need to understand that now, and to step up. They have to take responsibility, to put performances on the pitch and to make sure that we come back to our strengths.”
NO POSITIVES
“Yeah, I would be worried and angry as well tonight. I have nothing to hide. There is nothing to speak positively about tonight. The only thing I will say is that we will win games, but we need to change the mentality and to shift the mentality. Otherwise you will find yourself back in the same situation. At some point we need to deliver. I need to deliver, the players need to deliver, and we need to win games. We haven’t made the situation easier but it’s still early in the season – though we need to wake up quickly.”
NEED A WIN
“It’s all about winning games to get confidence. We need to get back to the basics. We have to get stability and to see that we can control games and win duels. We have to avoid mistakes, or when there is a mistake someone is there to help to avoid further mistakes. I think that is the only way to get back. We know that. I don’t want to speak about some things too much now, I want to be able to make sure we win the next game on Saturday. That is what we have to do. Win the game before the international break and get confidence back.”
