Slaven Bilic: Watford boss urges team to keep standards high following 4-0 win at Stoke
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Slaven Bilic last managed in England at West Bromwich Albion in 2020
Watford boss Slaven Bilic said his players now face the challenge of maintaining the standards they have set themselves after a 4-0 win at Stoke.
The former Croatia, West Ham and West Brom boss was appointed last Wednesday after the sacking of Rob Edwards.
He only had a few days to work with the squad, but they responded with their best win of the season so far.
"A great win - and good for the players to get that little bit more confidence and believe they have class," he said.
"It's my job, me and my staff, to use this to show them what they have to do every day in training to be in a position to play like this."
The 54-year-old is Watford's 16th permanent manager in the past 10 years and is back in football after leaving Chinese club Beijing Guoan in January.
And he was delighted by his side's performance on Sunday, especially in the second half after leading 1-0 at the interval.
"If someone asks me, 'if you want a perfect game, what would you like it to be?'
"You say 'a win', but they say 'yes, but I give you something more', you say '5-0 or whatever, a clean sheet if possible, strikers to score goals, wide players to create'. That's what this was," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.
"After the second goal we unleashed ourselves and there were a lot of great combinations, great individual moves, great patterns, it was a great day for us."
Bilic said, however, that there were moments when Watford had to "suffer" because of the direct style favoured by Stoke boss Alex Neil.
"The game lasts like life, many minutes, you've got to suffer, so we suffered together, we gave them corners and crosses, but I don't remember them having a proper chance," Bilic added.
The win put Watford seventh in the Championship, just one point below the play-off places, as they look for an immediate return to the Premier League following last season's relegation.
Bilic will take charge of his first home game when they face Swansea City on Wednesday.