There was more desire shown by QPR than Watford, and that was probably the decisive factor said head coach Chris Wilder.

In his series of exclusive interviews with the Watford Observer last week, Wilder talked about the different qualities that make up a good player – and cited that attitude, desire and character were every bit as important as talent and ability.

At Loftus Road, Watford never really earned the right to showcase their talents because they failed to get to grips with the home sides approach as they snapped into tackles, shut the Hornets down and got in their faces.

“I’ve not thought anybody turned it in today,” said Wilder.

“If I thought that, I wouldn’t have picked them and I certainly wouldn't have allowed them to carry on being on the pitch.

“But it is a physical game, and you are going to have to come to places like this and earn the right.

“I just thought their desire for three points was a little bit bigger than ours. There’s no way we pulled out of tackles, and we didn’t have people not wanting to run forward or back.

“But when it comes to the crunch and the ball coming out, they won more of it. They won more duals, and won more first and second balls.

“Regardless of what tactics and formations you play, the game is decided by that at every level.

“They did more than us of that in the initial part of the game, and that set the tone and tempo of the game.”

The Watford boss made no excuses and sought no hiding place when assessing the match.

“It’s a disappointing afternoon for everybody. I don’t like losing games but I didn’t think we did enough right the way through,” he said.

“It was a bit better just after half time for 15 or 20 minutes, and we pushed them back. But when we did and got into good positions, we never showed the quality and composure in the final run, cross, pass or finish to threaten the goal.

“It was the sort of game QPR would have wanted to have. There are all different ways of playing and I’ll never ever be critical of how others play, but today was the sort of game Gareth would have wanted for his team.

“It’s becoming even more relevant in the Championship that first and second balls and duals, the team that wins the most of those will dictate the flow of the game. It’s pretty straightforward.

“They did that in the first and got themselves in front, and then they did enough to win a game of Championship football.”

How does Wilder think his team can find the ways to make best use of the talents they have?

“You have to be brave and receive the ball, and then good in possession if that’s the type of player that you are,” he said.

“There were times when we gave the ball away cheaply.

“Decision making too, from back to front, wasn’t great. We tried to change the set-up of the team two or three times to make us better. I thought we were second half.

“But quality in possession wasn’t good. Too many straight balls. We had a lot of the ball early in the second half but possession doesn’t win you games.

“If you make poor decisions like we did when you’re in possession, then you can have the ball in good positions all you want and not do anything with it.

“There looks a little bit of fragility to our play at the moment, and a lack of confidence in the final third to be calm and pick the right pass. That’s something we have to get over pretty quickly.”