Head coach Marco Silva prioritised commitment over quality from Watford in his assessment of today's stalemate at Aston Villa.

The Portuguese boss conceded the Hornets needed to improve their movement and tempo, but was happier with the intent his players displayed at Villa Park.

Watford kept a third clean sheet from four games against the Championship side, who arguably had more to play for with their league opener against Hull City coming up in seven days, but looked laboured in attack with captain and top goalscorer Troy Deeney still missing.

He said: "What’s most important to me is our commitment. Today, I saw good commitment between everybody and our attitude and discipline on the pitch.

"Of course, we need to play better and improve. We need to improve in our offensive organisation, we need to play quickly. We played too slow in some parts of the game. But the first thing for us is clear - our commitment, attitude and discipline.

"After that, you need to put more quality in the team. Some players are too slow with the ball but that’s the next step. First we need to put good organisation in our team, defensive organisation, and then the other three aspects."