Watford head coach Marco Silva believs his side “must improve” after suffering a 3-2 defeat to League One Wimbledon.
It was the first game that Silva had taken charge of since taking over in the summer, and the game ended with his side conceding a late goal.
The Hornets conceded two goals within the space of three minutes after half-time, but fought back to draw level with 13 minutes to go thanks to Ben Watson and Steven Berghuis.
Watford must improve after defeat
However, Dons substitute Alfie Egan popped up late to score a winner for the hosts, but Silva believes people shouldn’t read too much into the result.
“What we saw is what I expected,” he told the Watford Observer. “The result is not good for us, but normally in a pre-season game, the result is not as important as the performance of the team.
“In this type of game, we want to see how the players understand our ideas. We need to improve as a team and put in some hard work.”
Silva has been working with the Hornets for two weeks, since the players returned, and his philosophy showed “a little bit” during the first half.
Silva still on look out for players
The former Hull City boss has already started to stamp his authority on the team, having signed Nathaniel Chalobah from Chelsea during the week.
Will Hughes, Kiko Femenia and Daniel Bachmann were also brought into the club, and the latter two played a part in the defeat to the League One outfit.
Silva, who is still on the look out for new players this summer, said: “The number of signings is not the most important things, but Gino the owner and Filippo (Giraldi), sporting director) knows the positions we need and what I want for a team, and we need to work hard in the market to improve our squad.”
The Portuguese head coach refused to talk about what positions he needs to fill, because he “respects” his players too much. However, he did admit that he wants to improve the squad ahead of the new season.