Xisco Munoz has told James Garner that he will get his chance at Watford, but that for now he has to remain patient.

The on loan Manchester United midfielder has played just 40 minutes of football in two substitute appearances following the Spaniard's arrival, with Will Hughes's return to fitness adding extra competition for the squad.

Garner looked particularly frustrated during the game against Stoke City when he had been told to prepare to come on as a substitute, only for the coach to change his mind at the last minute and leave the player unused on the bench.

Manchester United are understood to be monitoring the situation and would rather he was playing for a team where he would be given more regular first team opportunities than he is currently getting at Vicarage Road, with other Championship clubs interested, but Munoz said there is still a part for him to play this season.

"I think for Garner, he is an excellent player and I'm very happy with him," said Munoz. "He's not getting the minutes but all I can say to him is: 'Wait' because we can only play 11 people, this is the reality, and Chalo, Will, and Tom, they are at an excellent level.

Picture: PA

Picture: PA

"Every time they give very good performances and we need to continue. I'm very happy with James, he's a big professional, he's working every day excellently and all I can say is: 'Sorry, man, wait for your opportunity and when you have your opportunity, you have to show everyone that no one can take you out of the first 11.'"

Munoz once again spoke about the need for his team to "continue to improve" and pointed out areas in which he feels they could currently be performing better.

The head coach wanted to see his team attacking space better going forward, as well as playing with better cohesion and more consistent tempo.

"Every time with the guys, I speak about space, because we need to attack the space," he said when asked where his team could be doing better. "Depending on which system we use, we need to attack different spaces.

"We need to have more cohesion, to have everyone having the same idea, working in the same space, with the same velocity of the ball, because sometimes we need one velocity or another velocity.

"The team is improving but we need to continue because every time it's more difficult, because every time everybody knows more about us, and every time they notice how to stop the space.

"Every time we need to change the space that we're attacking, and we need to improve in all the weeks because when you play against one team, the same as we played the last five weeks, they know about us, they change different things, and they stop different space. We're here working and we're here to improve."