Quique Sanchez Flores deserves great credit for his part in Watford’s start to the Premier League season. That is the view of both Glenn Hoddle and Bruce Grobbelaar.

Despite Saturday’s late 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United, the Hornets are 13th in the Premier League table with 16 points from their first 13 games. They are currently seven points clear of the relegation zone and are in a position few pundits would have predicted back in August.

Former England manager Hoddle and legendary Liverpool goalkeeper Grobbelaar, along with Graham Taylor, Luther Blissett, Ian Wright, Michael Owen and Paul Scholes, were at Vicarage Road on Saturday and were guests on BT Sport’s Fletch & Sav show.

The Watford Observer was invited to spend the morning behind the scenes of the Darren Fletcher and Robbie Savage-hosted programme and spoke to Hoddle and Grobbelaar before the show was broadcast live from the club’s new TV studio at Vicarage Road.

“I think they’ve [Watford] done really well this year,” said the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder and manager, who has also been in charge at Swindon Town, Chelsea, Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers. “They can hold their head up really high how they’ve started. They’ve shown a real resilience, they’re 11th in the Premier League [at the time of speaking] and that will give them confidence.”

Asked how important Flores had been to the Hornets’ start to the campaign, the 58-year-old said: “I think that’s the reason they’re doing what they’re doing. I think he’s flexible, he can change tactics. When the players know what they’re doing they’re very clear in their objectives so he has to take a hell of a lot of praise with what he’s done, not only taking over but the way he’s getting them to play as well.”

That is an opinion shared by Grobbelaar. The 1984 European Cup winner, who now lives in Newfoundland and is goalkeeper coach for Ottawa Fury in the North American Soccer League, told the Watford Observer: “Watford have adapted very, very well. Coming up from the Championship, as people have asked, would they adapt this quickly? It’s been absolutely remarkable.

“The manager’s put out his philosophy, the players have bought it into and they must be doing very, very well on the training field.”