MX23RW : Wednesday, February 6 07:08:05

Gracia urges Watford to be more clinical in front of goal

Gracia urges Watford to be more clinical in front of goal
© Reuters
The Spaniard wants his players to convert more of the clear-cut chances they create.

Watford head coach Javi Gracia has seen his side score some wonderful goals so far this season – but now he has called on his players to also tuck away their bread and butter chances.

The Hornets have caught the eye with a number of goal of the month contenders as the likes of Gerard Deulofeu and Roberto Pereyra have stolen the show with individual moments of brilliance.

But, according to official Premier League statistics, Watford have missed 43 big chances so far this season – more than any other club in the top flight.

A 2-1 defeat to Tottenham on Wednesday night would have been hard to stomach for Gracia, as Watford again proved profligate.

But, while the Spaniard knows finishing must improve, he has backed his players to score the easy goals – starting at Brighton on Saturday.

"I try to take advantage of the chances we are creating," he said.

"If we score these kinds of goals I am happy because all of them are amazing goals but we need to take other kinds of chances as well.

"We need it, we spoke about it last week – we have been the team to miss the most big chances this season.

"I think we need to be more demanding to be more clinical in those situations. We try to create the situations where the players can finish because they have the quality to do it.

"Then there are other moments in play where they have to finish and in those situations we can improve because we have the quality and I'm sure in the next games we will do it better.

"All of them are demanding with themselves and only in this way can we compete the way we are doing.

"For sure we need to improve things, we need to finish better but we play this way – it is our personality and characteristics and we try to improve them."

Watford head to the south coast with midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure still likely to be absent due to a knee injury.

Tom Cleverley may also be rested as he still works his way back to full fitness having only recently returned from a year-long lay-off.


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Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool25195156154162
2Manchester CityMan City25192466204659
3Tottenham HotspurSpurs25190651242757
4Chelsea25155545232250
5Manchester UnitedMan Utd25146549351448
6Arsenal25145651361547
7Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2511593332138
8Watford259793334-134
9Everton2596103636033
10Bournemouth25103123744-733
11Leicester CityLeicester2595113031-132
12West Ham UnitedWest Ham2595113138-732
13Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2576122736-927
14Crystal Palace2575132633-726
15Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2566132133-1224
16Southampton2559112742-1524
17Burnley2566132646-2024
18Cardiff CityCardiff2564152246-2422
19Fulham2545162555-3017
20Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2525181346-3311

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