Comfort often breeds complacency and Sebastian Prodl believes Watford have been guilty of resting easy on their laurels in recent weeks.

A 3-0 win over Newcastle United at the end of November had the Hornets two points shy of the top five and in confident mood of building on a fine start to the season.

Since that trip to Tyneside, however, Watford have taken one point from six Premier League games and suffered a fourth straight defeat as Brighton condemned to a 1-0 loss on Saturday.

Prodl branded the performance at the Amex as below the expected standard and feels Watford have allowed themselves to get carried away with their early-season form.

“We are on a bad run and maybe we were dreaming too much. We were too comfortable in our situation in the table and maybe to confident heading into the games,” Prodl said.

“The performance wasn’t good enough but the defeat was unnecessary. We were not capable of putting some pressure on them over 90 minutes and I didn’t see any danger from us.

“I didn’t feel we were comfortable all over the place. We need to make sure that we regroup again and remind ourselves what we are capable of as a group.”

Defeat on the south coast leaves Watford 10th in the table and Brighton, who have received none of the plaudits the Hornets have this term, are now a point adrift of Marco Silva’s men.