Watford boss Vladimir Ivic accused his players of a lack of passion after their 1-1 draw at QPR and warned their attitude must change if they are to have a chance of promotion.
The Hornets made the perfect start at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, where they went ahead through Ben Wilmot’s second-minute opener.
But Ivic’s side faded after that and Rangers had several chances before Ilias Chair’s equaliser earned them a deserved point.
“I’m disappointed – and I would say that even if we had won, it doesn’t matter that it was a draw,” Ivic said.
“That was not how I want my team to play. We played without passion and without energy from the beginning – we were lucky we scored in the second minute of the game.
“We need to talk about it and analyse it, but it’s too soon to do so now. The truth is that we had a problem.
“You can prepare tactics and do what you think is good for the team, but if you don’t have the winning mentality and don’t show this then you won’t win.
“I believe that was our problem today – we were too soft. That’s not what I want from my team.
“What matters is the performance. You can lose a game and play well, but that performance today was not what I want.”
Chair’s 77th-minute goal denied Watford a third consecutive win and one which would have taken them top of the Sky Bet Championship table.
And Ivic admitted they can forget about going up if they produce many more similar performances.
“If we have a big target this year then we have to change our attitude,” he said.
“If we have that target then we have to win games like this. We should have won this game.
“I’m saying what I believe. I believe that my team can give much more than we did today.”
QPR manager Mark Warburton felt his team deserved at least their point.
They recovered well after failing to deal with a routine ball into their penalty area, allowing Wilmot to score from close range.
Rangers put Watford under sustained pressure and were eventually rewarded when Chair rounded off a slick team move by finishing coolly after being teed up by Lyndon Dykes’ deft flick.
“It wasn’t a lucky point – I thought we more than deserved it and actually we dropped two points against a very good team,” Warburton said.
“We gave away a really poor goal in the first two minutes from a corner but then the reaction was very good.
“It’s all about how you react and I thought we responded very well. We won the duels, played forward and through midfield.
“We looked a good team and as the game went on I thought we looked stronger and stronger.
“We had chances and I thought we looked in complete control in the second half. We looked dangerous and managed to get the equaliser.
“You might say ‘Well done, you nicked a point against a team who are top of the league’, but I thought we more than deserved that.
“The equaliser was a very well-crafted goal and the players deserve a lot of credit.”
