Just like his head coach, midfielder Hamza Choudhury highlighted Watford’s inability to turn possession into chances after the 1-1 draw with Rotherham.

The Hornets enjoyed 59% possession and had 18 goal attempts, but the quality of what they created wasn’t enough to unlock the visitors’ defence after they had equalised.

“I think we need to be better in parts of the game when we are on the ball and creating chances,” said Choudhury.

“When you let a team score an early goal, you know you’re going to have a lot of the ball.

“We created basic chances and couldn’t get the final pass quite right, and we need to be better than that against teams in the bottom half of the table, especially at home.

“We want to push the top two and also cement our place in the play-offs, so it is frustrating.”

With so many players ruled out, Watford have had their resources stretched and had to battle for points in recent matches.

“I think we have shown a lot of fight and grit over the last few games,” Choudhury said.

“We need to be stronger and fight more against these sorts of teams, and I think we’ve shown that quite a lot in our recent games, away at Norwich City and even against Blackpool.

“So I think we did well with that big push at the end, but we need to take our time and show quality in the final third.”

Having been injured against Hull City in the first game back after the World Cup break, Saturday marked Choudhury’s first 90 minutes since November 12.

“I’m here to play football and I love playing,” he said. “It’s good and I’m enjoying it, so hopefully I can keep building my fitness.

“Our preparation and our work in the week is good and we’ve got a few lads coming back and trying to build their fitness as well.

“We know we’ve got a really strong group so we just need to pull together and perform well.”