Watford boss Walter Mazzarri angry with FA Cup exit to Millwall
Sunday 29 January 2017 16:14, UK
Walter Mazzarri says he is "disappointed, angry and sorry for our fans", after his Watford side crashed out of the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage to League One Millwall.
The Premier League club were beaten 1-0 at the Den through Steve Morison's volley five minutes from time on Sunday.
That result leaves Watford with just one win in their last nine matches in all competitions and Mazzarri expressed his frustration after the game, pointing to the Hornets' second-half penalty appeals after Stefano Okaka went down under a challenge from Millwall's Byron Webster.
"I will speak with the players face-to-face [on Monday]," he said.
"We didn't deserve to lose. If the referee [Martin Atkinson] had given us a penalty in the second half [for a challenge on)] Okaka it would have been a completely different game.
"I'm very disappointed, angry and sorry for our fans. It seemed we were never going to concede but we ended up conceding.
"A lot of players have been missing but slowly we're getting them back. This is also the reason we had to change [the team]. I want a team that in the next 16 games [until the season's end] fights for every ball."
The Watford manager also explained to Sky Sports that Odion Ighalo was left out of the squad because of ongoing talks about a transfer out of the club, with interest from China being reported.
"This is because there was an offer, he's talking, he's negotiating, and I wanted only players who could concentrate on the game," he said.
