Hornets hammer 6 but Xisco still wants more
XISCO MUNOZ challenged his Watford players to maintain the standards they showed in the crushing defeat of Bristol City.
Munoz’s side put aside their recent dip in form to register an emphatic win that moved fourthplaced Watford t o within six points of the automatic-promotion places.
Ismaila Sarr scored twice and Will Hughes, Ken Sema and Philip Zinckernagel were on target after a Taylor Moore own-goal had put them ahead.
The victory was achieved with Troy Deeney who started on the bench and Munoz insisted the win was a reflection of the spirit within his squad. ‘I think this is our team spirit — we need to continue with this,’ said the manager.
‘We need to continue to understand all the players are important. The most important is continuing to work hard, staying together, and playing with this ambition.
‘Of course, today we will enjoy, we will drink one beer at home, sure. But after 20 minutes we think about the next game.’ A secondminute own-goal from Moore gave the home side an early advantage, before Sarr, Hughes and Sema effectively killed off the game before the break.
Sarr and Zinckernagel t hen wrapped up the win to maintain Watford’s outstanding home form and condemn Dean Holden’s visitors to a fourth successive league defeat.
City lie i n mid- t able and a miserable afternoon was summed up by the fact they were forced to wait until the 82nd minute before registering a shot on target.
The margin of victory was Watford’s biggest for six years and the clean sheet made it 14 shutouts for the season.
Munoz added: ‘ Sometimes you have difficult moments. What I can say today is congratulations to the guys because the guys played a brilliant, brilliant game.
‘It’s only three points, we need to continue. In two days we have another game and we need to get better every day because, if not, maybe it’s not enough.’
Bristol City manager Holden branded his side’s performance as unacceptable a nd demanded improvements when they face Reading on Tuesday.
He said: ‘It’s a horrible day for everyone connected. It’s a feeling that sits right in your gut. And to lose 6-0 is unacceptable.
‘ We were outclassed by a far better opponent today. We showed too many lapses in concentration to go 3-0 down early in the game. And then it’s a tough ask from there. Everybody is really on the floor and it’s a real bad day. And it’s a day as a player you’ll never forget. It’s the sort of result everybody will look at and we have questions to answer now.’
Holden added: ‘There’s no doubt the Premier League teams from last season have huge depth in their squads. But that’s not the reason we l ost 6- 0 today. We weren’t at our best with the ball or without the ball.’