Luther Blissett has called on Watford to show more determination on the pitch as they prepare to take on Aston Villa this weekend.

The Hornets are without a win in 12 games now in all competition and in desperate need of points, with the gap between themselves and safety expanding to six points following last weekend’s results.

With 15 games remaining this season, the chance to avoid the drop is still there and club legend Blissett believes that a bit more belief and confidence could help them get the breakthrough they need to start putting things right.

“The chance is always there until it’s gone,” Blissett told the Watford Observer. “We just have to, to a man, look our opposition in the eye and say: ‘today you’re not going to get the better of us’ and hopefully when that challenge comes, we can take it and we can walk away with a point or maybe all three.

“They’ve got to go there, regardless of what tactics you play, because tactics are just there to help you and enhance whatever you’re going out there to do. But as a man, you’ve got to go out there with that determination to not allow your opposition or whoever you’re up against to get the better of you. That, for me, is where it starts.”

One area in need of particular focus for Watford is the attack, with no goals scored since the 1-1 draw with Newcastle over a month ago and this season’s top scorer Emmanuel Dennis failing to find the net since the end of December.

Having scored 186 times in total for the Hornets, Blissett is familiar with what it takes to improve your chances as a striker.

The club’s record goalscorer said that, currently, it looks like the attackers are not playing as a unit.

“I think they’re playing at the moment as individuals,” he said “They are not working together as a unit whether in a pair or a three or whatever. And looking at it they are not causing problems as a unit going forward.

“Individually, you occasionally think something will happen then the others aren’t part of that and it doesn’t amount to anything. It’s very important, just like we’re beginning to get the defence at times looking more solid and like they’re going to be hard to break down.

“We need to now get the forwards working more to give the opposition defenders more problems. We need to stop playing so much in front of people and we have got to look at how to get them passing it in behind them.

“It’s not long ball, it’s a case of playing the ball up into midfield, looking for runners to get through the gaps in and around the back four or back five or whatever the opposition is playing. It distracts them more, which adds a little bit of uncertainty into what they’re doing.”

Ultimately, Blissett feels that the main problem Watford have is to do with mentality rather than ability.

He hopes they can focus their minds for the difficult run in between now and the end of the season.

“Now it’s down to the players’ mentality because they’re not bad players, they’re not poor players. It’s down to the players now and whether they can get themselves in a mental position where they can pick the results up,” he said.