Wilder wants Watford to be braver in the final third

But that dominance led to only nine goal attempts, and just two of those were on target: a first-half free kick from Imran Louza which Seny Diang saved comfortably, and Mario Gaspar’s header in the second period which was even simpler for Diang to collect.

In fact, in a game where nearly every statistic – total passes, accurate passes, accurate long balls, interceptions and so on – favoured Watford, they still created so little in front of goal that the post-game TV highlights barely show anything.

Chris Wilder nodded his head in agreement when he was asked if his side simply did not look like scoring.

“We got in round the back two or three times and the quality wasn’t good enough, and definitely we had three or four opportunities where you have to get the ball out of your feet and be brave,” he said.

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“We had a loose shout for a penalty but we’re clutching at straws there.

“When we have the ball, there has to be something at the end of it. There has to be an effective side of football, you can’t just pass and pass for the sake of it.

“If you work your way up the pitch, or you win a challenge and play forward, then there has to be something at the end of it. If there isn’t, it’s pretty simple: you won’t get anything out of the game.

“You certainly won’t get anything out of a game if you turn down opportunities and you aren’t brave enough.

“We have to help the players with that somehow, and I’ve got to get my head round that. They have to take more risks and chances, and be more productive in the final third.”

Rangers only really forced one other save after they had scored, making it a game of attrition rather than free-flowing football and lots of goal attempts.

“It was a typical Championship game, there was nothing really in it,” said Wilder.

“I think Dan Bachmann only had a couple of bits and pieces to do, and there weren’t a large number of opportunities in the game. I don’t think either team carved the other one open.

“I’m not saying the result was undeserved though, it was the right one. They looked more threatening and the opportunity they had they took.”

Wilder was asked what his immediate next steps would be after suffering a losing start.

“The work will start again tonight, and it’ll go through the night because this game will be in my head right the way through now. That’s what happens when you’re in football and a football manager, it’s 24/7,” he said.

“I understood we had a short lead-up time to today, and I knew that when I took the job. There’s not ever enough time to get things over to what you want.

“So we have to work quickly and smartly over the next 24/48 hours to make sure we get the right messages to the players, and they understand what we’re about and what we’re looking for.

“The season isn’t done because we’ve got beat, there’s still plenty to play for and plenty of games. We just need to affect things sooner rather than later.

“If we don’t get anything out of this week that makes it doubly difficult, and the gap will increase.”

Although he didn’t go into detail, Wilder suggested he’d shared a few home truths with his players after the final whistle.

“As you can imagine there will be an honesty about my approach because we’ve not done enough. And there will be an honesty with the players,” he said.

“There are certain things that I’ll keep between myself and the players in terms of what we’ve got to do better.

“It wasn’t a disastrous performance, but it also wasn’t one good enough to win a game of football.

“We’ll work hard to get our messages over and see what comes out on Tuesday night.

“However that message gets over I’ll have to make sure I deliver it in the right way. But there will be an honesty about my messages, just as there was in the dressing room after the game.

“From a psychological point of view there are all different ways. We have different characters and we need to get the best out of them.

“There are always different ways to get the message over because we the need the players. We can’t just give the season up, and I can’t be saying ‘I fancy him but not him’. We need all the players on board for the rest of the season.”