Watford boss Beppe Sannino believes his players have to show more personality in their performances but conceded Nottingham Forest were good value for their 4-2 win at the City Ground.

Gabriele Angella put the Hornets 2-0 up but the home side came storming back, scoring four goals in the last half an hour to turn the game around.

Sannino insists there were positives to take from the defeat but says his players have to show more character if they are to start climbing the Championship table.

He said: “It's not only the mental side, it's the battling side, the personality.

“We couldn't keep the right distances apart and after we conceded the first goal the crowd helped them a lot. It was difficult.”

Sannino continued: "It's like a war - we have to consider the personality of the players and I blame myself as well.

"Before Manchester City, I was very happy because we had conceded very few goals but we need to reflect now because we have conceded eight goals in two games.”

Three Forest substitutes scored all four of the hosts’ goals in the second period as Simon Cox claimed two and there was one each for Jamie Mackie and Darius Henderson.

Sannino paid tribute to Forest and admitted Watford’s opponents were the better team in the second period.

“I think we should be honest and say Nottingham Forest were better than us in the second half,” said the Italian.

“They were pushing a lot and we were not able to prevent them from delivering crosses from out wide and this was a problem for us. We conceded three goals that were the same.

"We pay compliments to Forest because they played well in the second half and now we have to forget tonight very quickly because we have to prepare for the next game on Sunday."

The Hornets have only won two of their nine matches since Sannino’s arrival but when asked he if had been disappointed by his start, the Italian remained philosophical.

"I came here to change the inertia of the results,” replied the Watford boss.

"Sometimes in some games we have deserved a little bit more but tonight I can only say congratulations to Nottingham Forest because they were better than us."

To read the match report of Watford's loss at the City Ground, click here.