Watford need a different kind of player in attack to play against organised defences, Marco Silva conceded today, and dropped a hint that the 'profile' of any incoming forward would be more in the target-man mould than his current options.

Troy Deeney led the line at Turf Moor but barely had a sniff against Kevin Long and James Tarkowski, while Andre Gray was never likely to find any space if deployed either.

Islam Slimani is on the Hornets' radar while there's little chance of Stefano Okaka earning a shock recall, and Silva has dropped his biggest hint yet about his January plans ahead of tomorrow's game at Crystal Palace.

"If you want to ask me about the profile of some of our players - is Andre the type of player to play against a team without much space?" he said.

"Of course not. That’s not his style having no space in behind. His best moments are against the teams who play with a high line.

"We’re talking about the profile of a player. To play one type of football, with offensive organisation, and attacking, we need to have some offensive players with the same kind of profile.

"In some moments, we don’t have these type of solutions."