Daniel Farke was frustrated with the lack of ‘intensity and sharpness’ shown in attack as Norwich City were beaten 1-0 at Watford.

The Championship leaders suffered just a second loss in 17 matches to see their lead at the summit cut to four points.

Ismaila Sarr’s goal in the 39th minute was the difference between the sides, as the Hornets won their first game under new manager Xisco Munoz thanks to a solid defensive effort which focused on playing on the counter-attack.

“We knew before that it would be a difficult game, there was no doubt about that. Watford have spent several years in a row on Premier League level, they were not happy to be in position five – this club wants to finish in the top two, that’s the reason they changed the coach,” said Farke after the loss at Vicarage Road.

“The first game with fresh energy, it was then clear it was a difficult game for us. In general in a game as an away team when you are able to dominate the game with 65 per cent of possession, 16 shots to five, it’s not a game you expect to lose but we lost this game.

“In general I think we were dominating this game and Watford were being concentrated on being absolutely solid in defending their own goal and of course with their quality and pace up front, to concentrate on counter-attacks.

“In general we created most of the chances, our problem was that we lacked a bit of intensity and sharpness in our final third, we were not willing to invest enough in running in behind to create more chances to score goals.”

The decisive goal came after an attacking move between Emi Buendia and Max Aarons broke down on the right wing, with City failing to recover adequately and Ken Sema’s cross deceiving Michael McGovern, allowing Sarr to get across Jacob Sorensen and prod home from close range.

Farke pointed out that attacking risks must be taken to create clear chances against good teams like Watford though.

He continued: “These are the ways and the movements that sometimes hurt in games but you have to be willing to invest in these runs in behind in order to hurt the opponent and create more chances to score.

“In football all topics belong together. When you’re lacking a bit in intensity in your attacking game and also lacking a bit in your awareness level in terms of defending, we then conceded out of a situation a goal that we never should have conceded.

“It was more like a simple crossing situation, we didn’t have enough pressure on the ball, it was also a bit unlucky, the cross was slightly deflected but in general we had an overload in our own box and lacked a little bit of awareness to defend the back post and for that they had an easy tap in.

“Once you are back in such a difficult away game and a team’s first game under a new manager, they feel they are pretty close to a massive win and they have so much experience up front, Premier League players like Troy Deeney, Gray and Sema.

“If a team like this lurks with counter-attacks you always have to be switched on. We created several situations but didn’t show enough quality up front to use one.

“I think we played a bit too complicated up front when we could have used these situations.”