Watford head coach Tom Cleverley said a simple lack of goals was behind his side's stuttering finish to the Championship season and subsequent failure to secure a play-off spot.
The Hornets ended a run of four consecutive league losses with a final-day draw against Sheffield Wednesday at Vicarage Road.
But that sequence, which rounded of a miserable streak of just two wins in 12, meant they placed 14th.
"We've not scored enough goals and we together have to realise that was a big part in why the play-off charge wasn't sustained," Cleverly said.