Watson not concerned about second-season syndrome despite poor form

Watford midfielder Ben Watson insists he has no concerns when it comes to second-season syndrome.

Watson has been an integral part of the Hornets side who secured promotion from the Championship in 2015 and managed to remain in the Premier League with relative ease.

With Spanish boss Quique Sanchez Flores gone, it has now been left to former Inter Milan and Napoli manager Walter Mazzarri to ensure the Golden Boys avoid a fate that has fallen many before them and suffer relegation when progression seemed the natural step.

Saturday’s 2-0 pre-season friendly defeat to QPR will have done little to reassure the new boss, with just two wins in their five matches this summer.

But Watson insists it will count for little when they take on Southampton in two weeks’ time.

“It’s not a reality check, QPR were just better than us, simple as that,” said Watson.

“You go into every game wanting to win it but that’s not going to happen. I’d rather lose in pre-season than in the season.

“We’ve still got a couple of weeks, so we’ll learn from it and we’ll improve for the next game.

“We will look over the game, look at what we did wrong and put it right. You are going to make mistakes – that’s football. Everyone makes mistakes. You don’t mean to but everybody does. It’s important we learn from them and they don’t happen again.”