Two of the Premier League new boys met in West London on Friday night in an early relegation six-pointer, with both sides struggling to pick up points in recent weeks.
It was, however, Brentford who left smiling thanks to late goals by Pontus Jansson and a last minute penalty by Bryan Mbeumo.
Watford had led from the 24th minute and were tantalisingly close to their first clean sheet of the Premier League season but two late lapses of concentration, first from Kiko Femenia and then William Troost-Ekong at the death were the difference between victory and defeat for the Hornets.
Mistakes continue
Speaking after the game, Claudio Ranieri expressed frustration at his side’s mistakes,
“We started well, we scored goals, in the second half we went too deep… we missed a chance to score the second goal and we made mistakes to concede… we lost the first battle, but we will do better in the next match.”
Substitution error
The substitution of Tom Cleverley for Joao Pedro in the 57th minute proved a pivotal moment in the game as Watford lost much needed midfield strength, Ranieri acknowledged that the change didn’t have the wanted effect,
“Tom gave everything he had to give, this is why we changed him. I thought Pedro could do the same but maybe he was too young and he couldn’t repeat… The young players sometimes can make this. Joao is a fantastic player but he must understand, when there is a battle, he must be ready for battle.”
Put the ball over the stadium!
Summing up the defeat, Ranieri was concise in his assessment of what went wrong,
"In the end we must be more dangerous and concentrate on every ball.
We made three mistakes. We missed a short pass, put the ball over the stadium!
That’s Premier League, you must concentrate to the end.”
Watford have now only won once in the previous seven games and if they are to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season they are going to have to remove these mistakes from their game quickly.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, there is little respite in the league and the fixtures keep on coming with a trip to Burnley in midweek before Crystal Palace travel north to Vicarage Road stadium.