Watford made it three dismal away Premier League defeats in a row whilst extending their winless run at White Hart Lane to seven league and cup games with a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Kieran Trippier's close-range finish after 64 minutes was all that separated the sides on paper but on the pitch there was so much more.

But what did we learn from yet another loss at the Lane?

Odion Ighalo can't lead the line on his own

It's quote hard to pigeon-hole the Hornets' 14-goal top scorer as one kind of striker over another. His tendency to pop up and score goals of all kinds suggests he is a poacher but his game has more than that.

He isn't, though, a targetman. On the evidence of Saturday's chastening defeat to Spurs it is evident he cannot lead the line on his own.

Watford had absolutely no out-ball with Ighalo as their sole striker. The ball didn't stick and Spurs would come back at the Hornets time and time again. The introduction of Deeney improved the situation slightly but the hosts were dominant.

In truth Ighalo has been poor for a few weeks now and were it not for his excellent goal record this season he would surely have found his position under scrutiny before now.

Deeney is the one who makes the Nigerian tick and does much of the hard graft for him. If you had to rest one of the two, as Flores revealed he had decided to afterwards, Deeney would make the far more natural lone striker.

Mario Suarez needs time to adapt to English football

Quique Sanchez Flores has always maintained news players need time to assimilate to his tactical plan and the requirements of the team.

That means a bedding in period on the bench with fleeting cameo appearances until they are deemed ready to carry out his plan to the letter.

However, Flores said prior to Wednesday's draw with Chelsea that as Suarez already knew him from their time together at Atletico Madrid he wouldn't take as long as other players to integrate and was ready to be involved.

He still might not take as long to take on board the coach's ideas as someone who hasn't worked with Flores before. But clearly it won't be an immediate transition for the Spanish international either.

However, his struggles were more to do with the speed and intensity of English football. It's a lazy cliche to say football in this country is about little more than two men colliding at pace but there's an element of truth to it.

Suarez was neat and tidy on the ball but the game largely passed him by and it wasn't a huge surprise to see him withdrawn at half time. He wasn't alone in that department, though, and Flores conceded afterwards his new recruit would have to adapt to the demands of the Premier League.

Watford Observer:

Etienne Capoue needs a rest

The way Flores sticks to his guns and entrusts his starting XI is laudable but it's time for the French international to come out of the side for a couple of weeks.

That's not to say he's playing especially poorly but he isn't affecting games in the way he can. Capoue is going through the motions at the moment; putting the graft and covering the ground without stamping his authority on the game.

Admittedly that's easier said than done at team like Tottenham but the former Spur showed nothing like the form which has led many to believe the Hornets got a bargain when they made the languid midfielder their record signing in the summer.

In the interest of fairness it is worth pointing out Capoue hasn't played this much football since his final season with Toulouse when he clocked 3,017 minutes of league football. In two seasons at White Hart Lane he, admittedly thanks to injury, managed just 1586.

Flores clearly feared Tottenham and treated them with too much respect

The Spaniard altered Watford's formation to what, more often than not in the first half, was a flat 4-5-1 with Capoue given licence to press higher up the field than his midfield colleagues.

That meant a return to the left-hand flank for Jose Manuel Jurado who had impressed behind Ighalo as a number ten in recent weeks.

Watford Observer:

With Watford still feeling their way into the Premier League Flores set up in a 4-5-1 system at Manchester City in August with Deeney and Jurado the men in wide position.

There were parallels to be drawn between the two games in the first half at least.

Clearly the Spaniard's intent was to keep it tight and goalless for as long as possible. But, as at the Etihad, even with Spurs failing to make the breakthrough Watford weren't even troubling the hosts defensively.

The match statistics told their own damning tale. Spurs had 26 shots to Watford's three with nine of those hitting the target. The Hornets didn't trouble Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal once.

What will frustrate many Watford supporters is the fact they know their side are better than that.

As good as Spurs are this season, Flores' men have handsomely beaten Liverpool, twice drawn with Chelsea and been agonizingly unlucky in defeats to Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham themselves by going toe-to-toe in all of those matches.

In games against the division's big boys, only the loss at City in August (2-0) and home defeat to Arsenal (3-0) have been write-offs.

Perhaps Flores paid Spurs too much respect in how he approached the game.