Aidy Boothroyd refused to accept that a defeat at home to the mighty Manchester United, albeit narrowly, was one to take any solace from.
After seeing Damien Francis cancel out Mikel Silvestre's opener for United, Watford contrived to lose the game with a sloppy piece of second half defending, but Boothroyd refused to blame any single individual, preferring to focus on a generally below-par team performance.
"Being average and losing to Manchester United doesn't interest me.
We didn't play anywhere near well enough today. I know all my players can and will give so much more.
We didn't do what we're good at, we didn't play in the Watford way, we were too respectful at times and that's not what we're all about.”
Boothroyd continued,
"We got promoted by getting in people's faces and showed them who we are and we didn't do that today. We allowed them to play and were masters of our own downfall.
The players that I have are fantastic people who are wonderfully, wonderfully gifted and if they believed what I believe then we'd be at the top of the league but that's going to come.
I listen to managers saying 'I can't ask for more' but I do ask for more and I want more and I'll get more because they're fantastic players.”