Valérien Ismaël has called on his Watford players to use their unbeaten start to the Sky Bet Championship season as a platform to build winning momentum, ahead of Saturday afternoon’s trip up to Stoke City (August 19, 3pm KO).
The Hornets sit third in the standings ahead of the third round of fixtures - following victory over QPR and a draw against Plymouth Argyle - while they are the only side yet to concede, and the Head Coach has been pleased with the application displayed so far.
While he acknowledged a measure of fatigue last time out - in the wake of three games in a week - he is confident the squad are refreshed and ready to go again, as the campaign continues to get back into full swing.
“We’ve started the season well - the performances, the attitude and the mentaility have all been exactly as we wanted, and we’ve set the standards to stay that way,” the 47-year-old said.
“Now we need to keep improving and create momentum, which is not about one or two good results. It’s about seven, eight, nine or 10 games in a row - that’s how you build confidence for a season.
“We know what we need to do, and we’ve worked on our challenging areas all week. We’ve studied and analysed the games, and given the players lots of details to implement and improve.
“Some of our decision-making wasn’t as sharp as we expected in our last game, but after a week back in training the freshness is back and we’ve seen that straight away. If we reduce our mistakes and use that freshness all over the pitch we can be ruthless, and we’re all looking forward to putting that into action and taking the next step in our season on Saturday.”
Alex Neil’s Stoke kickstarted 2023/24 in emphatic fashion with a thumping 4-1 win over Rotherham United on opening day, before edging past West Bromwich Albion in the Carabao Cup, but a 2-0 defeat to Ipswich Town last time out will have left them itching for a return to winning ways.
Ismaël is aware of the threats posed by the Potters - who have added the likes of Daniel Johnson, Ben Pearson and Ki-Jana Hoever to their ranks over the summer - but is staying focused on his own team’s endeavours as he finalises his preparations for the Bet365 Stadium clash.
He added: “Like every team in the Championship, Stoke are strong. They have good players and a good manager. We know what we have to do to put in the performance, the effort and mentality we want. We’ve got our own plan, and we have to stick to it.
“For us it doesn’t matter whether we’re playing at home or away. We want to force our game, be brave and from the first minute to the last recognise and see the right intentions in our play.”
