Head coach Slaven Bilic said he and the players are very aware of the fans’ feelings at the moment, but he also added that results and performances since he arrived at the club have not changed his view of it.

Watford won their first game under Bilic with a comfortable 4-0 success at Stoke, but then lost 2-1 at home to Swansea before the 3-1 defeat at Blackpool on Saturday.

It was after that game that Watford fans vented their anger via chants and gestures, and some even started fighting amongst themselves in the stands.

“Of course the players know the supporters are unhappy,” said Bilic.

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“That happens at every club, not just at Watford.

“It’s very clear you have to please the supporters on a weekly basis. It’s not always about the result either, it’s in the way you play.

“If you show the determination and you are really giving everything but you don’t get the result, then they won’t be happy but they will accept it.

“One good result at Stoke or a couple of bad results doesn’t change my view of the club. It is very well organised and excellent at providing us with everything we need.

“The one thing that is a problem is the injuries and that is the main issue. You need your players to be available, and that situation is getting better. Tomorrow we will put a good team out on the pitch, and have a few options on the bench as well.”

Bilic elaborated on why he was so disappointed with what he saw last Saturday, particularly after the home side regained the lead.

“There is no excuse for that reaction (to the second goal) and it’s not what you want to see from your team. On the other hand, it does happen,” he said.

“The game is 1-1, you’re not happy and you’re trying to win the game. Although they had chances on the counter-attack, the game was being played in their half of the pitch.

“You’re rushing to take a throw in, you’re asking the ref to make sure they don’t waste time. You’re not happy because it’s 1-1 and suddenly, bam, you’re 2-1 down. Then a couple of minutes later it’s 3-1.

“It’s not acceptable, I’m not happy and it can’t happen again. But do these situations occur in football? Yes they do.

“It’s happened to us this once, that’s it, draw a line under it, learn from it and make sure it happens no more.

“We had the ball and control of the game at Blackpool. They had their moments of counter attacking play but we controlled that game. What I really wasn’t happy with was our quality in the last third.

“There was also a lack of willingness to take the responsibility to do something about that. I wasn’t happy with our reaction to their second goal, although to be fair that was around the same time that we picked up a couple of injuries.

“At 2-1 down I didn’t like our reaction, but we also lost a couple of players which didn’t help.”

With the rare treat of no midweek game, Bilic and his players have been able to enjoy an uninterrupted spell on the training pitch.

“We have been waiting for this week, we knew it would be the first week where we could do a little bit more in training,” he said.

“We could raise the intensity of the training. It doesn’t have to be long sessions, but everything we do, we do with intensity.

“Because we had the time and opportunity we wanted to put more intensity into the work we did. The way we have spent the time has been good.

“I am really happy and satisfied with the way the players responded to that. They reacted well and they liked it. They are walking a bit taller and feeling more happy after those sessions. That is a good sign.

“We weren’t able to train a lot when we first came here because we had three games in six days. But since the Blackpool game we had a clear week so we’ve been able to train a bit more and I’m happy and satisfied with how the players reacted.

“When you come in during a season, you have to slowly put your ingredients in. During the first 10 days when we played three games it was almost impossible, but this week was the first where we could train Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

“You can’t do everything in one week, but you can do more than in a week where you have three games.

“This is the week where we could put what we wanted into things, and that is why we’re optimistic ahead of tomorrow’s game.”

Injuries continue to hamper team selection but Bilic is attempting to ride through the current choppy waters towards a time when he will have more players available.

“You always have injured players. That happens in football, in games and in training. But not as many as we have had.

“I have no doubt when we get the majority of our players back we will have a very good team that will be able to win games on the trot. For now we’re having to suffer to get there. We have to get through it, showing the passion and the mentality required.”

Is there anything that he and his staff can do differently behind the scenes in order to mitigate the problem, and help prevent the number of injuries in future?

“You start thinking about the grass on the training pitches, the surfaces we work on – you begin to investigate everything,” said Bilic.

“I don’t know why this has been happening. We have a really good medical team and they don’t know either. It’s not anything to do with a new regime of training because the injuries were happening before we came. And it’s happened in games rather than training.

“Nobody really knows why. If we knew, then we wouldn’t let it happen. But you cannot stand still either, so you investigate and look at what things you can change. Definitely something has led to us having so many injuries, particularly when most of them are in one area of the team.

“Our medical team is really good, and we are reducing the problems now and then will hopefully stop it.”

The paucity of defensive options has led some fans to call for a dip into the free agent market, but Bilic is aiming to get to the World Cup break in a month’s time, and then assess the situation.

“We’ll get to the World Cup and decide. Even before we arrived we knew that we wouldn’t rush or be crazy, wasting money or a spot in the squad just because of something in the short term.

“The key is after the World Cup, when we will have sorted out the situation with injuries and then we’ll have had a few more weeks to assess the situation. Things will be calmer.

“We have to go through this turbulence in the meantime to get us to the World Cup break. In the meantime we have to make sure we stay in the position in the league that the club and myself are aiming for.”