Walter Mazzarri has said he was not happy with his Watford side's performance on Boxing Day, but did feel a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace was a fair result.
Watford did not get off to the best of starts as the hosts lost Daryl Janmaat and Valon Behrami in the first ten minutes, both due to injury, and it got worse when Yohan Cabaye put the visitors a goal to the good.
Yet they eventually pulled level to earn a point through captain Troy Deeney, who came off the bench to end a 10-game goalless run and score his 100th Watford goal.
Mazzari, speaking after the draw at Vicarage Road said: “It’s a result I think is fair even though for the first time I am not happy at all with the performance.”
The Italian also added: “It’s also true that in my whole career I’ve never lost two players after ten minutes and this affects the condition of the game and the whole team in general.”
Deeney dropped from starting line-up
Deeney was left on the bench in Monday’s encounter with Palace and Mazzarri has explaned his reasoning behind dropping the striker.
He said: “Troy, as any other striker in the Premier League, has to work a lot and sacrifice for the whole team in order to help the squad.
"I think in the last games he lost a little bit of his freshness and lucidity and I decided to put him on the side in order to get it back as Odion Ighalo did.
"Also the fact that we didn’t have Isaac Success and Stefano Okaka for many games, it didn’t give me the chance to give Troy a rest.”
He also stated the importance of always having four starting XI strikers and to rotate them.
Mazzarri believes that a weight was being carried on Deeney's shoulders ahead of his 100th goal but now feels “he can take this weight off and think about scoring more goals.”
Watford picked up spirit in second half
Mazzarri also stated: “If I have to say something from today it’s only two things. The first is we got one point even though the performance was not good at all.
"I liked the spirit of the team in the second half and the real character of the team came out and we managed to get one point.”
Watford are next in action on New Year’s Day as they take on Tottenham Hotspur at Vicarage Road in the Premier League.