Roy Hodgson disagreed with his goalkeeper Ben Foster after Watford's punishing 5-1 defeat at home to Leicester City on Sunday, and said that the blame for their relegation could not be laid solely at the feet of his players.

Following the match, the keeper told the BBC that "no manager in the world" could have prevented the Hornets from dropping into the Championship this season, saying, "People definitely can’t be pinning blame on Roy Hodgson. He galvanised us a bit. We were a wayward team and didn’t know what our game plan was. He got us working as a unit."

However, Hodgson himself said the blame had to be shared between himself, his players and the people at the top of the club, responsible for making decisions.

"You can never blame everything totally on the players," he said. "A football club is an amalgam of many things. Players, of course are the most important, after the ownership and the people who make decisions at the top and the manager comes somewhere in that amalgam.

"I wouldn't like to blame it totally on the players. I think that probably the reason for our failure perhaps needs to be analysed a bit more closely, in a bit more depth and with a bit more honesty than that. But I understand what Ben is saying and it is to some extent the feeling amongst a certain group of players, that they haven't had enough support from some of the others.

"I understand that Ben, who is also a nice guy and who's also like myself leaving the club, feels that it was important to make that point, but I can only say I understand what he's saying and where he's coming from, but I'm not prepared to say it myself."