Watford manager Walter Mazzarri has said that forward Odion Ighalo “has to be ready” after being left out of the starting line-up last weekend.
The Nigerian international had his best season for the Hornets last year, scoring 17 goals, but has not managed to find his feet so far this season.
He has just two goals this term and was left out of last Saturday’s starting line-up as Mazzarri guided the team to a 2-1 win over Premier League champions Leicester City.
Ighalo must be ready for return
The Italian boss has now told the forward that he needs to be ready for action when he is called upon, but he has also told of how professional Ighalo has been about being left out.
"What I do is watch my team during training, I study the next opponent, and then make my decision on what is the best thing, considering all these factors," he told Sky Sports.
"Ighalo has been professional and accepted the decision. When he played, even when he didn’t score, he played as well as the whole team has done."
Mazzarri said the forward played badly when the team lost, but it wasn’t just him, the whole team played badly and he has to be ready to make his return when the moment comes.
We don’t focus on any other team
The Hornets have made a fantastic start to the season and life under Mazzarri has began very well, and they sit eighth in the table.
The win over Leicester took them up one place, but the Italian manager has said that they must move on for the next challenge against Stoke City on Sunday.
Mazzarri added: "If you remember what I said at the beginning when I arrived, I said that we only have to think about us, we don’t think about the other teams.
When we need to do the best on the pitch, game by game, and improve every day in training and in the games."