Valerien Ismael held his hands up after the game and placed the blame for the 3-2 defeat against Middlesbrough firmly at his own door.

The head coach switched from the usual 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, having said in his press conference yesterday he wanted Watford to be more flexible and less predictable.

However, the Hornets never looked comfortable in the new shape, conceded two early goals and were chasing the game from then on.

“I’m not happy with myself. Today is on me, the first half particularly,” he said.

“I decided to change the shape and change something tactically. It didn’t work out like I expected, especially when the opponents score a goal early.

“That raised the doubt and the confidence of the players goes low, and I can’t blame the players for that.

“It’s clear we changed something, it didn’t work out and the opponents punished us. We didn’t control the midfield and the opponents had momentum.

“Nonetheless we came back into the game. With the ball we were good, but out of possession it was difficult.

“That was particularly the case in the first half due to my decision to change something.

“We had a big chance to equalise with Bayo before half time, and then we changed again in the second half and I was pleased with how that worked out.

“We looked powerful when we came out from the changing room for the second half, we got level and we had other opportunities to score.

“But at the moment our opponents are really clinical and punish us, either when we make mistakes or just because they are more ruthless in taking their chances than us.

“If you start the game and go down 2-0 down with most of the 90 minutes still to play, then it is going to take a lot of energy to get back into the game.

“I made the wrong call in the first half. It’s my decision.

“When you make a change and it works out you say the manager made a great decision. Today was not a good decision.”