Luther Blissett believes staying up in the Premier League again should be considered a successful season for Watford and is wary about the potential dangers heading into their second successive year in the top flight.

The Hornets held their own during the last campaign after finishing 13th. This was still not enough to keep Quique Sanchez Flores at the ambitious club and Walter Mazzarri is the new head coach.

But many teams suffer from ‘second season syndrome’ and Watford’s record goalscorer and appearance-maker thinks the side’s primary objective has to be to secure safety.

Blissett said: “I think for Watford the second season syndrome is going to be very important that we don’t get caught with this expectation we’re going to be so much better than the previous season.

“If it’s not then the disappointment and negativity comes in and that drags you down and you have a relegation battle on your hands.

“I think we really need to be very mindful of that, stay up again and then strengthen again in the summer and look again because the longer you are in the Premier League the easier it becomes to attract better players that will really make an impact on what you’re trying to do.

“For me it’s just stay up and if we can get a cup run again, whether it’s in the League Cup or the FA Cup, then I think it’s another very good season.”

Mazzarri faces a difficult task coming into his first job in English football. The Italian has enjoyed success throughout his coaching career, with the exception of his last job at Inter, but Blissett believes adapting to the competitive demands of the Premier League could determine how successful he is.

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The Watford legend said: “He has to quickly get up to speed with what the Premier League is all about. It’s a very difficult division and you play in places like Italy, Spain and France and the technical side of the game is very much what the whole system they do is all about.

“But in England the technical side is important and improving from our British-based players as well but the actual competitiveness of every game you play [is different]. In every game there is the potential the opposition can beat you whereas in other countries it isn’t that way. Generally, three or four teams win 90 per cent of the games but in this country it’s just not that way.”

He added: “It’s a case of every game you have to play the best team available to you in the Premier League. If you don’t you can find yourself on a slide of losing games and it’s a very difficult cycle to break. That’s what he’s got to get to terms with very quickly and understand nobody takes their foot off the gas until the final whistle goes.”

There is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the team after the change in coach and formation this summer.

Blissett wisely does not want to place too much emphasis on the preseason results and insists it is unfair to make any rash judgments of Mazzarri’s side until the season is well under way.

He said: “There’s a new formation and the defeat at QPR...I know people say don’t take too much notice of preseason games and I’m a bit like that and waiting to see how they do against Southampton at the weekend.

“Then added to what’s gone on in preseason you can start to make a proper judgment moving forward from that.

“It’s still early days and until the season kicks off and you see where Southampton, Watford and the other teams are it’s a bit unfair to say ‘you’re going to be great or you’re not going to be’.

“Let’s see how the new players bed in and hopefully we can see a Watford team that will play some exciting football and win games in a manner we can all really enjoy.”

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Jerome Sinclair and Isaac Success will provide additional options in attack after joining Watford.

But captain Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo will again lead the line and Blissett, who scored 186 goals for the club, hopes the recent additions are able to offer a different dimension to the Hornets attack.

Blissett said: “You look at it and it’s going to be the usual partnership that starts the season. There’s no doubt about that. That’s a strong partnership that worked very well last season and they’ll start that way.

“Hopefully, the players that come in can add a different dimension to the dynamic of the Ighalo-Deeney partnership.

“It’s down to the players whichever one they will be replacing at any one time they can work with that player to be an effective attacking force with them.

"If they can’t work that out it really doesn’t matter how talented you are because you do need that bit of a partnership where you work with each other or a partnership out there where you can create opportunities to score goals.

“That’s going to be the biggest thing for the players getting to know each other and the strengths can impact on their game to make them better.”

Blissett expects Ighalo and Deeney to face a tougher challenge this season with opponents now familiar with their threat. He also thinks the team need other players to step up and assist them to ensure the Hornets do not become reliant on their front pairing.

Blissett said: “It will be tougher because everybody has learnt a lot about how they can combat those two. A new manager coming in now with a new formation will give a slightly different approach to it. 

“If we can be more of an attacking force when we are going forward because I felt last season we were reliant on one of those two doing something rather than the team creating something. That probably contributed to the second half of the season where we didn’t score the goals or be the attacking force we were early on.”

Ighalo enjoyed a superb first half of the season netting 13 goals but his form dried up from January onwards scoring just twice in the league.

Blissett is concerned by his downturn in form but is hopeful Mazzarri will be able to bring out the best in the Nigerian international.

He said: “If you’ve got someone who scores goals of course you do [want to keep them]. But if you look at the second of the season and think what was the main reason why he was nowhere near the player he looked prior to the turn of the year? That would concern me if I was the head coach. 

“What was it that changed whether with the player or the team’s approach why he was nowhere near as effective as the season went on? Let’s face it the second half of the season is when you need all hands on deck and need your goalscorers to really step up. It becomes harder as teams understand more about the opposition and prepare better to stop them doing what they’re actually trying to do. 

“That concerns me a little bit and I’m hoping that he’s learnt and the new tactics the coach will bring will circumvent that problem.”

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The exit of midfielder Almen Abdi has highlighted the need for creativity and Blissett thinks this is an area the club need to focus on if they are to enjoy success throughout the campaign. 

Blissett said: “I believe so [add more creativity] because last season in the second half you were looking for someone to get a grip of a game and run it a little bit. You look at the teams that were successful and you can always pick out two of their midfield players that made a difference in games. 

“You look at Watford and it’s always been the two at the front that really were the difference. We do need to be better in that midfield area on the creative side if we’re going to have a real threat that can be maintained for a longer period as the season goes on. 

“Teams will understand from last season what Watford are about and they will be better prepared. The change of manager might just be the thing that gives them that little bit of a honeymoon period for the first few games when the season kicks off.”

Although Blissett will keep an eye on the Hornets this weekend, his attention will turn to helping Burnham progress.

Burnham’s director of football development hopes to follow in the path of Oxhey Jets after coming up against them in last weekend’s FA Cup defeat. 

Blissett said: “We played Oxhey Jets in the FA Cup at the weekend and meeting them and what they’ve achieved at that club is the model I am looking to create at Burnham. 

“You’ve got your management from the owner right the way down knowing exactly what you’re going to do. They understand it takes time to do these things.”