Marco Silva admits the importance of adding to his squad after Manchester City defeat

Tuesday 2 January 2018 23:27, UK

Watford boss Marco Silva is hopeful he can add defenders to his squad in the January window after losing 3-1 to Manchester City.

Raheem Sterling scored the fastest goal of the Premier League season and City netted further goals courtesy of a Christian Kabasele own goal (13) and Sergio Aguero (63).

Watford, who grabbed a late consolation from Andre Gray (83), have now just won one of their last nine matches and although they sit 10th are just five points above the drop zone.

Silva pointed towards the absence of Younes Kaboul and Miguel Britos in his defensive line as a reason for their dip in form and he wants to strengthen his options in January.

When asked if he'll be adding to the squad in the window, he said: "Yes, I hope. We are working. The board know what I expect.

"It's important with problems we have, if I have more players available for the next match it's important for us.

"I've got to work with the players in the squad and develop and improve them though. But I hope we can improve."

City were denied maximum points for the first time since August against Crystal Palace on New Year's Eve but started 2018 in blistering fashion as Sterling scored after just 38 seconds.

Silva was left fuming with the way his team defended in the opening stages.

"What I can say now is to come here, compete and do our best to take a good result when you start a game like this," he said.

"We weren't aggressive in our defence, it was too easy for them. The first 25 minutes we were too slow and we knew before the match they would push our team back.

"Against all teams home or away they do that. We need to do it in a different way and we didn't do that."