Still: Reset needed

Watford's 5-1 hammering at Middlesbrough stemmed from a lack of togetherness and resilience in the team, said Ed Still, who acknowledged the need for a reset at the club this summer.

The Hornets played well in the first half, Still claiming that was much closer to what he wants his team to look like, but unravelled in the second to concede five on the road for the second time this season.

More: Match Report: Watford complete miserable away run with 5-1 Boro loss

The head coach knows the club needs an overhaul this summer after four straight away defeats and a run of no wins in seven.

He said: "The result isn't based on one game, it comes as a result of the whole season – not creating enough togetherness in the team, not creating enough resilience.

"That's what happens at the end of the season, unfortunately."

How is that fixed?

"You need a reset", he said. "I'm not the first to say that there's a reset that's needed on many, many points. Now's not the time to go into it but I've just said to the players now exactly what I'm saying to you.

"That needs to come from within.

"I can see and feel the emotions that are there in the dressing room at the end of a very, very long season for them, with all the turmoil that's happened.

"Everything on and off the pitch – it's draining. But that doesn't justify a result like today."

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Still switched to a 5-4-1 shape, using a midfield diamond with wing-backs as he changed his system after a string of poor results.

It worked fairly well during the opening 45 minutes, his side only going in two down thanks to a sensational Morgan Whittaker free-kick and a fortuitous David Strelec finish, with the head coach referencing the "personality type" of the players he picked.

He said: "There comes a point in the previous weeks where we're not getting the results with a certain profile of players.

"We've been trying to stick to the balance, that system, but today we flipped it. We focus on a certain type of profile, a certain type of personality. That was pretty clear I think."

Mattie Pollock (Image: Alan Cozzi/Watford FC)

Mattie Pollock was highlighted by Still as somebody who has been vocal in the dressing room this week and the defender was clearly very frustrated at full-time.

Combined with the head coach's post-match assessment, there is a feeling the Watford dressing room isn't a happy camp.

Still said: "There's huge disappointment and anger, and I think Mattie has been outspoken enough.

"He's really stood up and fronted up, and done his very best on the pitch as well in the last few weeks. He's taken responsibility.

"He's also stepped up inside the dressing room so I can understand his anger and his frustration.

"It was the thing that struck me most when I came in, that it wasn't a team that was necessarily united and together. That was the main thing we set out to do in the early weeks, and we managed to make progress in that, but that momentum got broken.

"That's 100% one of things that will need to be looked at and worked on during pre-season."