Watford boss Paulo Pezzolano sees room for improvement in Nestory Irankunda

Watford manager Paulo Pezzolano thanked Nestory Irankunda for the free-kick which earned Watford a 2-2 draw against Southampton at Vicarage Road but insisted that the Australia international has huge room for improvement.

The 19-year-old signed from Bayern Munich in a £3million move this summer and his free-kicks in successive games – at Swansea last week and now against Southampton – have earned his side a point on each occasion.

Pezzolano said: “I’m not really surprised about the free-kicks because we knew about Nestor’s quality, but we didn’t expect those free-kicks in such a short space of time.

“I can’t remember seeing anyone score two free-kicks like that in successive games. Those were perfect and beautiful free-kicks.

“I am going to be on top of Nestory because he has to keep on growing and developing.

“He has to understand that he needs to keep on working. There is so much more that he can achieve.

“From a fitness point of view, if he makes 20 sprints in a game now, he has to make 30 in the future. If he makes three assists now, he has to make six. And if he scores two goals, he has to score four in the future. He has to improve tactically, when and how to press the opponent.

“We want to help Nestory understand the great player that he can be and to help him become that great player that everybody was expecting in the last two or three years.”

Pezzolano is happy that his side enter the international break with five points from their opening four games given they are still adjusting to his methods.

He added: “In the first half we contained a good side very well. The second half was very different but from our point of view it’s not possible to play the whole game like that.

“But I am pleased that the players are learning and incorporating our way of playing.”

For Southampton manager Will Still, the challenge of introducing his methods at his new club has been complicated by the flux caused by transfer window arrivals and departures, particularly since the season started.

In the past seven days alone, the club has sold Tyler Dibiling and Mateus Fernandes to Premier League clubs Everton and West Ham respectively.

Still said: “In an ideal world we would start the season and the transfer window would all be done and finished.

“You’re never quite sure of what the team’s going to look like from one week to the other. You hear things and then suddenly Tyler and Mateus are out the door.

“The team and squad may look quite a bit different in the coming weeks.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult month because of the transfer window and where the squad was at and where the football club was at as a whole.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a quick fix or a quick job to just click your fingers. There’s another big chunk of work to be done with all the players who have come in the door.”