Gracia wants victory over Coventry to act as catalyst for Watford’s form

Posted Wednesday, August 28, 2019 by PA

Watford boss Javi Gracia hopes that his side’s 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Coventry can act as a catalyst towards finding some Premier League form.

The Hornets registered their first win of the campaign with an easy success against the Sky Bet League One side, thanks to goals from record-signing Ismaila Sarr, Daryl Janmaat and Adalberto Penaranda.

The win means the pressure at least does not increase on Gracia, having watched his side lose their first three league games of the season, conceding seven goals in the process.

Although he made 11 changes to his side, he hopes the victory will give his side confidence ahead of the weekend’s trip to Newcastle.

“It was a good performance, not only the performance we got a good result as well,” he said. “It was good for our confidence, the confidence of all of our players.

“It is always important to get a clean sheet and score three goals. We have to be ready for the next game on Saturday and try to prepare as well as possible.

“We need something like today, next Saturday, getting a good result to change a little bit the dynamic and feeling better in all the competitions.”

Sarr marked his first start since his £25million deadline-day move from Rennes with a 37th-minute opener and fine strikes from Janmaat and Penaranda, who both found the top corner, killed the game.

But it was the clean sheet that pleased Gracia the most.

“It is something we need in this moment, to improve our defence,” the Spaniard added. “We did it well today and we need to keep doing it the same way.

“If we want to improve our results we need to get more clean sheets. We cannot concede so many goals. We have conceded seven goals in three games and that is something we need to improve, be more compact and solid.”

Coventry put up a good fight in front of 3,000 travelling fans, but boss Mark Robins knew they could not bridge the gap against their Premier League hosts.

“I thought that the gulf between Premier League and League One is huge,” he said.

“What helped them was that they made 11 changes and freshened it up.

“When you play a Premier League side you have to hope they have an off night.

“The quality told in the end, we tried to stick with them. Our players have to learn how to impose ourselves in a game against opponents who are tactically and technically better.”