Reaction: Bachmann Speaks After QPR Victory
Daniel Bachmann spoke to watfordfc.com following the Hornets’ opening-day 4-0 win over QPR, with goals from Tom Dele-Bashiru, Imrân Louza, Matheus Martins and Vakoun Bayo helping to yield a perfect start to the campaign.
Read the skipper’s thoughts below…
The start we made was incredible – to go 1-0 up so quickly was amazing. It was a lovely team goal as well – you could see everything we’re trying to do within the first 35 seconds of the match.
Overall I think the first half was very good. In the second half certain things got a bit sloppy, and there are things we need to iron out, but mistakes are going to happen. We’re playing with a new philosophy, which is going to take time to implement, but you could see what we’re trying to do and we’re very happy.
I think you could see that we’re a team today, and aside from the result that’s the most pleasing thing. We know what we’ve been asked to do and everyone’s going into the game with a plan, knowing what we expect of ourselves and of each other.
It’s always nice to start the season at home, because it does make things that bit easier playing in front of your own fans, especially when there are a few nerves around. I hope everyone who was here today is proud of what they saw, in terms of a team performance and what we did with and without the ball.
Going forward, we just need to iron out the mistakes. The way we’re playing is always going to come with risks, but we’ll only get better. The important thing is that we keep pushing, and we’re looking forward to going again on Tuesday and then back in the league next Saturday.
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QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth defiant despite heavy defeat
QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth admitted he has his work cut out to keep the club in the Championship with little money available to him to spend due to Financial Fair Play regulations.
R’s suffered a 4-0 defeat at Watford on the opening day of the 2023-24 season, after conceding four times in the first half at Vicarage Road.
The Hornets struck after just 33 seconds through Tom Dele-Bashiru, as Imran Louza, Matthias Martins and Vakoun Bayo also profited from some dismal defending from the shell-shocked visitors to find the net.
The scoreline could have been much more emphatic, with QPR missing first-choice centre-backs Jake Clarke-Salter and Jimmy Dunne due to injury as debutants Joe Gubbins and Morgan Fox struggled to contain the Hornets.
But Ainsworth insists he will keep the club up.
“I am not happy, we were behind after the first minute and sometimes you have to hold hands up and say you weren’t good enough,” he said.
“We were not ready for that first half from Watford and we were torn apart at times.
“I thought we looked a lot better in the second half but on the day Watford were much better than us.
“We win and lose as a team, there is no finger pointing from me, it is down to me as the manager to put it right.
“We are favourites for the bottom of the league, but we will be better than we were last season where we scrapped it to stay up.”
Louza set up the opener with a sublime reverse pass for Dele-Bashiru and added the second with a fine curling finish from the edge of the box that found the bottom right corner of Asmir Begovic’s net.
And Watford manager Valerian Ismael hailed the Morocco international, who missed the World Cup due to a serious ankle injury but has benefitted from a full pre-season.
“A lot of players played at a high level but for Imran it was good after last season to have a good pre-season,” said Ismael.
“He made every session and you can see straight away the difference, because when you are confident in your body you can show your quality.
“I knew the guys were ready, we worked hard for seven weeks so they gave us the feeling they were ready for the competition.
“I told them just to get their rewards, to put their attitude and intensity in the game.
“It was a perfect start for everyone, not about the result but more about the attitude to get the reward after seven weeks of hard work.
“The combination for the goals, we’ve worked on it for seven weeks, the positioning of the players, we attack together and defend together.
“It was the perfect first step, nothing more. But the way we scored the goals, the combinations, the positioning from the players, it was all very pleasing.”
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