Valerien Ismael: Winning the only 'antidote' for Watford, says head coach

Head coach Valerien Ismael joined Watford after a spell with Besiktas in Turkey

Head coach Valerien Ismael says Watford are in "pain" as their hopes of a play-off place have faded because of recent results.

They have not won a home game since 28 November and were held to a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road by Swansea on Wednesday.

Ismael's side have only won one of their last nine league games and are 13th in the Championship, 12 points adrift of the top six.

"A win is the only antidote against our pain at the minute," he said.

The former Barnsley and West Brom boss picked Daniel Bachmann in goal ahead of regular first-choice Ben Hamer, but he was beaten by an 18th-minute Ryan Andrews own goal.

"It was [due to] lack of communication," Ismael told BBC Three Counties Radio.

Asked about Bachmann's inclusion for his first league game since November, he replied: "When you are in a difficult situation you have to make changes, so we change players, in the first half we changed the way to play, we changed a lot of things around the training ground schedule.

"At the beginning of the season I said that the keeper position for me is like an outfield player, and it should be possible to change the keeper just to keep everyone involved.

"Everyone has a part to play to help the club."

Although in mid-table, Watford are only seven points clear of the relegation places and, prior to facing Swansea, had lost five of their previous six matches.

They will be at home again on Saturday against eighth-placed Coventry City, who beat bottom club Rotherham 5-0 on Tuesday.

Watford and Coventry drew 3-3 at the Coventry Building Society Stadium back in September.

"I knew that we needed one goal [against Swansea] and after that the energy will come - it's a clear mental issue at the minute, we are working on it intensively, but sometimes it takes time and the only possibility to have a shortcut is to win games," Ismael added.

"At least we stopped the losing run, it's not enough for us but at least it's a small step in the right direction.

"The second half gave us confidence. We know [the problem], it's on the mental side and we will address that for the game on Saturday."