Watford manager Javi Gracia has conceded that his side were 'too soft' and failed to compete in their 2-0 loss away to West Ham United.

The Hornets followed up their impressive 4-1 victory over Chelsea with a flat defeat at the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon, going down to goals either side of half time through Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic.

Gracia had no complaints about the margin of defeat, which extended Watford's winless away league run to seven matches, and has called for more consistency from his players after being dragged back to within five points of the relegation zone.

"We were very soft during all the match," he told Sky Sports News. "The first half we didn't compete in the best way and they were more aggressive and dominated areas and we didn't create clear chances to score. We will try to do better next time.

"Arnautovic played very well, he's a very good player, but he's not the most important for us at this moment - our performance is the most important thing and we need to improve and I hope we will do better next time. We try to look for consistency and to be more compact.

"We were able to do it in our last match and we try to do in the next one. Every match is important, today it was very important and the next one too, now I only focus on the next match, that is the best way to improve our level."

Eleventh-placed Watford now have a fortnight off before facing Everton at Vicarage Road.