Sanchez Flores: We are good enough to play against the big teams

Quique Sanchez Flores believes Watford are a match for any team in the Premier League ahead of Saturday’s match against Aston Villa, but maintains his team must stay focused if they are to build on their impressive start to the season. The Hornets suffered their second successive 2-1 defeat last Saturday at the hands of Manchester United at Vicarage Road, but Sanchez Flores explained that his squad will not be distracted by individual results. “My thoughts don’t change after we lose the last match, so we are in the plan [for the season],” he insisted. “We are also training well. We tried to meet with the players after the last match, tried to explain that we win and we lose. We are good enough to play against the big teams, like Manchester United in this case. “So for me, everything is normal. We are training like every week, so won’t change anything, but we know perfectly that we want to play against amazing teams, like Aston Villa, who we know now is in a bad position, but of course we can’t underestimate this kind of team.” Having signed 15 players in the summer transfer window, Sanchez Flores also vowed that supporters have not yet seen the best of his side, and that Watford are capable of finishing in mid table come the end of the season. “We are building a new team,” he said. “We have very important players – a new squad. We are new in this category, after a lot of years, so we are expecting a lot, and we try to convey to the players every single week that of course we can achieve the middle of the way. We are just starting.” But despite his confidence, when asked about building on Watford’s impressive first third of the season, the head coach reiterated his continued belief that the Golden Boys must only look at the future, to the next match. “The last third is the past – it is part of the past. The first 13 matches, I am very happy with these points and with the performance of the team, but we need to forget. We need to play now the second part of the league. “We are working well, but it is very important to manage the expectations, it is very important to keep humble, to know that the league is very long, is very tough. In the next month we have to play against the best teams in the league. So the only thing we have to do is to play focused in the next match, to keep the expectations under [control].”