Valerien Ismael insists he remains “comfortable” about his position despite Huddersfield’s comeback 2-1 victory consigning his side to a seventh straight home league game without a win – with the Watford boss calling on his players to look at their own performance to find the root cause.
The home fans made their displeasure abundantly clear as Watford struggled through the early going, prompting Ismael to make a pair of first-half substitutions.
That had the desired effect, but only to a point, with Emmanuel Dennis smashing home the opener shortly after the break from Yaser Asprilla’s square ball.
The hosts wasted a fleet of chances to kill the game off, repeatedly opening Huddersfield up only for their finishing to be found lacking, with Tom Ince particularly profligate against his former club.
Huddersfield substitute Danny Ward punished that wastefulness, scoring twice to secure a vital win for the relegation-battling visitors.
Ismael said: “After 20 minutes the feeling was we had to do something to have an impact.
“I picked two players but I could have changed all 11 players. It was still 0-0 but a bad performance, and we spoke clearly to the players at half-time.
“From 21 points at home now we’ve taken only two points. It’s a difficult situation to understand why it’s like that.
“The performance was not there and that’s what we have to analyse and especially the players, because as a manager I’m responsible for the result, but the players are all responsible for their own performance.
“They need to look inside themselves and give an answer to themselves about why they’re not performing as a team.
“I am still comfortable where I am. I enjoy my work every day with the staff and I think the most important thing is we give everything. That’s what I do from early in the morning to late in the evening.
“I would have been frustrated myself as a fan.”
New Huddersfield boss Andre Breitenreiter, meanwhile, hailed the determination his side showed to win in his first game in charge, with sub Ward heading in Yuta Nakayama’s excellent cross from the left before flicking home Tom Edwards’ low delivery from the right.
That comeback win already looks vital for Huddersfield, who remain just two points outside the relegation zone but have also overtaken Stoke to move up a place to 19th.
Breitenreiter said: “On the pitch and outside it, after Danny Ward scored [his first] we had the belief that we could win this game. This is what I want to see and what I like to see.
“We played further to attack and to press high, and had the conviction to score again. The players, the team, they deserved to win this game, absolutely.
“Celebrating the win after the game with the fans…they gave us a lot of good support and we have to really say thank you to them. It was absolutely fantastic watching smiling faces, from the supporters and from the players. I’m very happy.
“I’ve collected so many impressions this week. Some things are different from Germany or Switzerland, but I like it because the mentality is very high. This is a really traditional stadium, and it was special – and it’s really good for me to start with a win.”
Former Spain boss Del Bosque to oversee RFEF
Former Spain boss Vicente del Bosque will oversee a new committee supervising the RFEF.
Spain, which is due to be one of six host countries for the 2030 World Cup, announced the creation of a special committee until the federation holds elections to replace Luis Rubiales.
That is despite Pedro Rocha having this week been appointed as Rubiales' replacement, though he himself is under investigation amid a corruption probe.
Rubiales was dismissed following his unsolicited kiss on Jenni Hermoso during the Women's World Cup trophy ceremony in 2023.
The federation's former president was then arrested in early April as part of a corruption investigation.
Del Bosque led Spain to three consecutive trophies, winning the European Championships in 2008 and 2012, while also leading the team to their first World Cup success in 2010.
Prior to his time with the national team, he also won two Champions Leagues and two LaLiga titles while in charge of Real Madrid, where he made over 400 appearances as a player.
Vardy eyes 100-point season after Leicester's title win
Jamie Vardy has challenged his Leicester City team-mates to reach 100 points after sealing the Championship title with one game to spare.
The Foxes were promoted back to the Premier League without kicking a ball after Leeds United’s 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday, but they needed to win on Monday to earn top spot.
Enzo Maresca’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory over Preston through Vardy’s brace and Kasey McAteer’s header, moving them to 97 points.
With one last milestone in their reach, Vardy wants to make sure they end an already successful season on a high.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We can celebrate it tonight, but now we have another target which is 100 points.
“We are over the moon. It has gone by quick but it's a graft. Not many days off, I'll tell you that.
“The lads - they've given it all. Thoroughly deserved, and I'm glad we've had 5000 to come and celebrate with us. It's not like it's 20 minutes up the road."
After a run of just three victories from nine games in the league between mid-February and April, Leicester have now won each of their last three outings.
Maresca has praised his players for their hard work in what he labelled a “tough season”.
“Fantastic, it's been a fantastic season. The Championship is a tough season and very intense, but I'm very happy," said Maresca.
"Now it's time to enjoy the work of the season to bring this special club back to the Premier League. We deserve it.
“The last two days they have been fantastic. We got promoted, but it was difficult in game preparation. But we used all of today to prepare for the game, the morning and afternoon. It was good.”
Preston 0-3 Leicester City: Foxes seal Championship title in style
Leicester City cruised to a 3-0 win over Preston in the Championship on Monday to clinch the title with a game to spare.
Jamie Vardy was the star for the Foxes as he scored in both halves before Kasey McAteer made sure of the points with an unmarked header.
Abdul Fatawu had the chance to cap an already memorable night for the travelling fans but hit the post with his curler.
Preston slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat, while Leicester go into their final game against Blackburn Rovers with the knowledge that they will lift the trophy after the final whistle.
Data Debrief
Jamie Vardy has scored 18 goals this season (two in this game), more than any other Leicester player in the competition. He has also netted in his last three games, scoring four goals in total.
It was a dominant performance from the Foxes, who had 19 shots with 11 of those on target. At the other end, Preston only managed to test Jakub Stolarczyk once from their five attempts.
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