Watford defender Sebastian Prodl has been encouraged by the progress made under new head coach Walter Mazzarri during pre-season but believes it will be even harder to stay in the Premier League next season.

The Austrian international helped the Hornets maintain their top-flight status in his first year at the club as the side finished 13th in the table.

But Prodl expects the task of staying in the Premier League to be tougher during his second year at Vicarage Road.

Prodl said: “If you see the table and the teams in the Premier League this season the first target again will be to stay in the division. We want to improve a little bit in terms of how we play football, create chances and defend our goal.

“We just want to improve in all parts of our game and then we will have a great opportunity to be successful as we were last year.

“I think football is improving all the time and every year it’s getting harder. It doesn’t matter which league. Football is changing a lot in the past few years and getting quicker and quicker and more physical.”

The 29-year-old adapted quickly to the challenge of English football following his move from Werder Bremen last summer.

Prodl made 24 appearances for the club and scored twice in the final month of the season.

An encouraging debut Premier League season was topped off by playing for Austria at the European Championships and the defender is hoping to build on his first year at Watford.

He said: “It was a great experience. The first year was very successful for the club and me. I played some good games and scored two goals. It’s not too bad for a defender so I felt good for the first year.

“I prepared myself well for the big tournament in France as well so it was a successful year after playing a lot and also got the chance to play at the Euros.

“Here at Watford, I think we really deserved the compliments we got last year because we were solid throughout the season and never got in trouble. I think it was good for this club.

“But it’s not going to be that easy this season again, so we have to be well prepared and focused on staying in the Premier League which is the first target this season.”

Watford Observer:

The powerful centre-back has not had as much time working with Mazzarri as the rest of the squad after being given extra time off following his extended international season.

But Prodl has been impressed with the tactical nous the Italian is trying to instil in his new team ahead of the start of the season.

He said: “We’ve been working on a lot of tactical things and I think we can learn from him and we have to introduce new things under him. I think we’re going to play a little bit different way to last year. It’s going to be an exciting year again.

“He hasn’t invented new football. He’s trying out some new tactics and how to react to opponents’ tactics. Everyone has to know what to do and we have spent a lot of time on it during pre-season. So far everything is working fine and positive.”

He added: “Of course we are getting more and more comfortable and everything is getting better. The tactical shape we are doing every day is getting better but of course we do need some more time.”

Former Inter Milan head coach Mazzarri has adopted a 3-5-2 formation during pre-season. Prodl is comfortable in this system although he insists the team will not be predictable and are capable of adapting to their opposition.

He said: “I have already played this a few times so I feel comfortable with this system [3-5-2] but it’s not just the only system we are preparing for. We don’t want to show the opponents too much of what we’re going do in the season.

“We have trained with a lot of different shapes but if we play 3-5-2 it’s not a surprise for me and I’m capable of playing it so I don’t mind.”

Prodl enjoyed home comforts after the Hornets held their pre-season training camp in Austria.

The squad were based just half an hour from his home and the defender took the opportunity to visit his family during some free time.

The former Sturm Graz defender said: “Of course it was nice being 30 minutes from my home town. It was great to breathe the air in pre-season as well. It was a good experience for me and hopefully all the guys had a good time too.

“I got the chance to go home and see my parents, my brother and my niece so had a good time. It’s been a good week, not just because I was home, but for the physical and tactical training we did. We played twice and it was a successful week.”