Thursday 4 February 2016 01:15, UK
Quique Sanchez Flores had no problem with Diego Costa after the striker clashed with Watford defenders during their goalless draw.
Costa and Juan Carlos Paredes received yellow cards after an off-the-ball incident in front of the Hornets bench, while the Chelsea forward also pushed Sebastian Prodl away from the play early on.
Flores helped play peacemaker after Paredes and Costa exchanged words, but the Watford manager, who coached the Chelsea striker during their time together at Atletico Madrid, paid tribute to the forward's fiery character.
"I understand Costa because I coached him and I know he wants to challenge every player, but nothing happened really," Flores said. "He was younger [then], and I was worried how I could organise his football. You could feel his potential, and it was important to focus it.
The Hornets boss shared a quick word with his former player after the final whistle, and when asked what he told the Blues striker, Flores said: "That I love him!
"His character is his character. I prefer that character to an ice-man on the pitch. When you're the coach and you have this kind of character from the player it is amazing.
"Today it was important that [John Obi] Mikel, [Cesc] Fabregas, and Oscar, did not give Costa the pass. The work of our midfield and defence over their midfielders was very important."
Heurelho Gomes denied Costa a late winner, one of several saves from the Watford goalkeeper in the second half, although the home side did have opportunities themselves.
Flores' side have won just once in their last seven league games, but more than matched Chelsea in the first half and the manager was pleased with the display.
"We are not disappointed, we don't know this word," Flores added. "We are very happy, we have the feeling that we are enjoying the experience of being in the Premier League.
"We have a lot of reasons to be happy today because we were very competitive against Chelsea. In the physical way they [Chelsea] are amazing players.
"We enjoy every single match, and against this Chelsea side, to get a point and to be in the top half, we had a lot of reasons to be happy.
"We didn't feel that we had the control of the situation in midfield in the second half, they played better than us, so at that moment we had to choose one part of the pitch and we defended well."
