Head coach Quique Sanchez Flores has remained relaxed and kept confidence in his players during recent weeks, but he's now admitted that it was a great feeling when Watford finally stopped their run of four consecutive Premier League defeats on Saturday afternoon.
Doing just enough
Goals from Odion Ighalo - his first of 2016, and perhaps at a time when his side needed it the most - and Craig Cathcart, were enough to see off a Newcastle United side that huffed and puffed but struggled to put the ball in the net - as has often been the case for Steve McClaren's team in recent weeks.
Jamaal Lascelles headed home for the Magpies with just under 20 minutes of the game remaining, but it wasn't enough and the Hornets took a 2-1 win and all three valuable points.
Flores spoke to the assembled media after the game, describing the win as "amazing". The Spaniard furthermore went on to say that although the "opening was very tough", Watford "played really well in the first half". After their recent struggles, during which Flores now admits his side "lost a bit of [their] spirit", the Hornets' described himself as "very happy" with the performance from his players.
Make no mistake about it, even with the four straight league defeats Watford were still having a great season. Obviously, though, no fan likes to watch his side struggle, so it will be a great relief inside Vicarage Road that the Hornets managed to collect all three points - and they will believe their side can kick forward in what has already been a remarkable, critic-defying season for Flores' side.
"We were considered candidates for bottom of the league."
- Quique Sanchez Flores
Once again expressing his delight that he has a group of players he loves and that are always "working hard", Flores went on to say that you could have "ask[ed] everyone" at the start of the season how Watford would do, and most would have said the Hornets were "candidates for the bottom of the league". This, he says, is one of the main reasons why the club have been able to "take a bad run" such as the one they have been on, and instead just keep "fighting" against the odds and previous expectations.
A window of opportunity
Flores has already been busy in the January transfer window, signing Costel Pantilimon from Sunderland and Nordin Amrabat from Malaga. When questioned about the possibility of other transfers, he immediately said that Watford are "expecting to incorporate another player", describing the arrival of a "central midfielder", as a "possiblity", and prompting wagging tongues after rumours of Watford's pursuit for Mario Suarez - of Serie A side Fiorentina - in recent weeks.
Watford have finally stopped the rot and got themselves back to winning ways, but one suspects that for Flores this is far from the end. With the tag of relegation candidates quickly snipped off, everyone about Vicarage Road should be very excited about just how far this side can go.
