An angry Slaven Bilic felt his Watford side gifted Middlesbrough victory at the Riverside on Saturday, with the Hornets boss incensed with his side's lack of quality.

Boro won the key clash between the two sides in the Championship top-six, leapfrogging the visitors into third thanks to goals from Chuba Akpom and Marcus Forss. It was an impressive performance and a superb recovery after last weekend's disappointment against Sunderland.

And while Bilic always appreciated the quality that Michael Carrick's side had, he was ultimately left frustrated with his own side as what he described as 'unforced errors' like in tennis ultimately ensured his side did not threaten enough and instead encouraged the home side.

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An incensed Bilic said after the game: “I’m angry. It was simply not good enough. I was excited before the game because of the way we’d prepared and we’d taken seven points from our last three games. We had new players, players coming back, we had pace in attack, we knew we could stretch them and we knew what they would do.

“But there’s no point in talking about all the things we could do if we do the basic things as badly as we did today. How many times did we pass the ball to them? How many times did players just slip over? It’s impossible to do anything or get anything out of a game when you do that.

“And then we concede a goal like the first one. There is no other word for that than sloppy. In tennis, they talk about unforced errors. Today we made so many of them. If you give the ball away ten times, and you keep slipping over, then the confidence drains.

“When we got the ball and used it in the first half we stretched them, but you cannot give the ball away as many times as we did. We didn’t make simple passes, we were sloppy, we weren’t focused enough.

"Yeah, Boro played well, of course. But we made them look good also. We knew how they would play and we knew how we could hurt them. There is a way to play against them because they are open. So many times we were in a good situation and you're expecting something then bang, we lose the ball and they are counter-attacking you.

"Listen, I'm an experienced manager and I know you lose games sometimes. I've lost many, many games in my years as a manager. But performances like that drive me crazy."

Bilic had tried to spring a tactical surprise in the game. Switching to a back three, he dropped midfielder Hamza Choudhury into the defence. Explaining why, he said: "We know how they play down the left-hand side and how they play with two tens, and that was the way for us to stop them.

"We had to step up more and be more aggressive on whichever man is on the ball. We weren't doing that and it's a chain reaction from there. On that performance, catching the top two, no chance. Other teams will catch us."

While the Croat was clearly emotional given the manner of his side's performance, he did have some warmer words for Boro. He said: "Boro are a good team. They have improved a lot since Michael came. You can see they are playing with confidence.

"But even today, you feel that you can pin them back, keep the ball and stretch them. That should lead to good situations and you need the extra quality, of course. We knew they were a good team, but we can't give them so many situations and opportunities."

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