Head coach Slaven Bilic echoed what most Watford fans would have said after the 0-0 draw with Preston: his side were simply not good enough.

When speaking to the media on Friday, Bilic said several times that this was the game when his team needed to move up a gear and get going.

Instead, they rarely looked like breaking Preston down, and the first-half showing was particularly insipid, as the Hornets mustered just one goal attempt.

“I expected much more from us,” Bilic admitted.

“Second half I don’t have any complaints, but first half I have to be realistic and say it was not good enough.

“We were weak in good situations, we were weak in 50/50s, we couldn’t get stability and control of the game.

“It was a bad 45 minutes for both sides. We stopped them but our aim wasn’t only that, our aim was to control and dominate the game. We were nowhere near that in the first half and that’s why we made some changes.

“We were simply not good enough and I was very, very disappointed at half-time. It wasn’t what I expected.”

Having had so many players out injured, Bilic was able to field what looked – on paper – a very strong team capable of winning the game.

“If we were at the start of the season, or if we were in a comfortable situation I would say it wasn’t great but it was ok,” he conceded.

“But considering where we are and what we want from the remainder of the season, today was simply not enough.

“If one team deserved to win it was us but we didn’t do enough to win the game. We created a few chances and you need that bit of quality or bit of luck to open them up. They are good at defending and they know how to frustrate you.

“But I expected us to create more, especially in the first half. The second half after the changes was much better and we created perhaps three chances, one of which was clear cut.”

When asked where his side were particularly falling short, Bilic had a swift answer.

“At the moment, we are missing that quality in the box. I can’t say another word but quality.

“Today we were switching sides, deep in their half, get ourselves in a good two against one situation with enough players in the box – and the cross is bad.

“Then when the cross is good we are not in the right positions or our touch is bad.

“The cut-back from Sarr in the first half was great, but there was no-one there.

“Then when you do everything perfectly and you’re one against one, you don’t score. There is always something missing.

“The boys are trying, running, fighting, keeping their shape. We are putting all our offensive options on the pitch but we couldn’t find a way to open them up.

“We are struggling to score goals. In other games involving other teams you see some easy goals. But us, we need a lot to score a goal.

“We always have something missing.”