New Watford head coach Claudio Ranieri has urged his team to understand him "very soon" in order to hit the ground running.

The Italian arrived at the beginning of the week following the departure of Xisco Munoz and has been thrown in at the deep end with a match against high-flying Liverpool to prepare for next Saturday.

In his first interview for the club website, the Tinkerman said 40 points and safety was his initial target, but that it would take a lot of hard work to achieve.

"The first idea is to be safe. 40 points are very necessary and then we will see," said Ranieri.

"I hope to make a very good campaign this year. It's not easy because the next match is Liverpool, one of the best teams in Europe, and of course I have to work quickly, hard and try to do my best and get my players to understand me very soon.

"I'm excited - I love the pressure and also I put that pressure on my players."

Currently Ranieri is working with a few players missing due to injury and the international break, but the Italian said he had watched the Hornets last season and believes he has a talented group at his disposal.

He feels there is more than enough in his squad to achieve his goals, but knows there will not be much time for them to adjust to their new boss.

"A lot of players are coming, also a new manager, and we need a little time," he said. "I know in the Premier League there isn't time and for this reason I told them we have to work hard and fast.

"I watched [last season] - I think there are very good players. I have my philosophy and my mentality and we have to work hard to change a little thing.

"I've started with not all the guys because there are some injured players and some international players. We are working - we are working well. I'm very confident."

While he is probably best known in England for winning the league with 5000/1 underdogs Leicester City, he knows those achievements will count for nothing at Vicarage Road.

His aim for the Hornets is to create an attack-minded team, but also recognises that the defence is in need of work too, with no clean sheets kept so far this season.

"I'm looking at the future and it's not important what I did, it's important what I want to do," he said.

"My football, everybody knows me from Chelsea or Leicester, I want a team who tries to score goals. We have very good players up front, very fast, I want to close the space and help the defensive line."