Troy Deeney felt Watford were bullied by Burnley in their 2-0 Premier League defeat at Turf Moor.
Walter Mazzarri's men kick-started their season with back-to-back wins over West Ham and Manchester United but they were brought back down to earth by goals from Jeff Hendrick and Michael Keane either side of half-time.
"I have to watch my words so I don't get in trouble," Deeney told Sky Sports 1.
"We got bullied, that's the best way to describe it. We got bullied all over the pitch to a man.
"Fair play to Burnley. They had a game plan, stuck to it and delivered.
"I'm very disappointed. We've had the highs of the last couple of weeks and if you don't match those high standards, people have every right to ask questions."
The win was Burnley's second of the campaign, although manager Sean Dyche is aware his side will need to improve in front of goal if they are to avoid an immediate return to the Sky Bet Championship.
"I thought the lads were terrific tonight and fully deserving of the win," said Dyche.
"If you keep clean sheets, you're going to have a chance in games. We did well last time round. We didn't score many but if you look at the goals against we did pretty well for a team that had just come up and had a big challenge on our hands.
"We believe in the shape of the team and that there's good organisation. We know we've got to be productive at the top third of the pitch and that's our big challenge.
"But we've had a real solid start to this season."