Last season’s Player of the Season Hassane Kamara said he and the rest of the Watford squad hold the key “in our heads” to turning the incredible performance against Luton into the norm rather than the exception.

Kamara also admitted that he knows it has been tough to be a Watford fan so far this season, and that although he was happy to play on the right to help former head coach Rob Edwards by playing on the right he didn’t expect to play there regularly.

The defender acknowledged the key role the Watford fans played in the 4-0 win over Luton at Vicarage Road on Sunday.

“The atmosphere was very, very good,” he said.

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“We knew we were bad against Millwall and at home against Luton we wanted to give a much better performance. The fans created an atmosphere that lifted us and I think the team did well.”

The night before the game, the players held an impromptu team meeting at their hotel – without head coach Slaven Bilic or any of the football staff – to prepare for the derby.

“It wasn’t to discuss anything in particular, just to make sure that all the players were aware of the situation with Luton, and how important that game was for the fans,” he said.

“We discussed that every player needed to look for what motivated them, and use it for that game. We knew it was such an important game.

“Will (Troost-Ekong) led the meeting but quite a few players took the chance to speak that evening.

“I knew about derby games, but because in the Championship you are usually playing every three games, sometimes you aren’t thinking that far ahead. So having that meeting made sure we all knew.

“For me personally, I was very aware of how important that game was.

“I think Sunday was the first game when all the players have shown that commitment. It was good to see that, and for the fans to see that, but we need to do it more often.”

Kamara got an assist for the Hornets’ early opening goal, scored by Keinan Davis.

“When Isma gave me the ball I was just trying to put a good ball into a good area, and I know Keinan is always in those good areas,” said Kamara.

“I saw Keinan pointing where he wanted the ball, and I actually put it a bit behind him. But he did very well. It was amazing skill: I couldn’t do that. I might be able to do it to defend, but not to score!”

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Coming so soon after a truly dismal defeat at Millwall, it was another example of how Watford have found it impossible to string two performances together this season.

“There are a lot of reasons for the inconsistency, but I think the biggest one is what we think. It’s in our heads,” said Kamara.

“We need to be more focussed and more motivated for every game, not just for Luton.

“I think the coach has talked about fitness more because we have a lot of players in the treatment room right now. We have a lot of injuries.

“Plus we have to play every three days most weeks, so in terms of fitness we do have to be ready for that.

“But I think the issue is more mentally. To be ready for games you have to prepare. You have to be careful how you sleep, how you rest, how you train. Everything is inside your head.”

Kamara was well aware of the fan anger after the Millwall defeat, and knew that some had left well before the end of the game.

“A lot of fans went to Millwall. I saw them behind the goal, in the top and the bottom of the stand. There were a lot of fans, and I know some left early. I know the fans travel a lot and they do that to be here for the team.

“To be honest, I know it’s not easy being a Watford fan so far this season. We have been relegated to the Championship, and in this league we are only in the middle of the table. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Sometimes we play well, sometimes we don’t.

“That isn’t easy, and I am sorry for the fans.”

Judging by body language and effort, Kamara himself seems able to be up for every game.

“Every player is different,” he said.

“Me, I’m a physical player. And in life, not just on the pitch, I give everything of myself. That’s just normal for me. It’s not something unusual for me, I just give 100% in everything I do.”

There have been three particularly grim away games so far this season: Blackburn, Blackpool and Millwall. After which game was the mood in the dressing room the worst?

“All three times it was bad, but Millwall was difficult because before the game we had spoken about how we had to perform, and then we didn’t do that on the pitch,” said Kamara

“Not just in terms of the football we played, but the intensity and our physicality.

“We didn’t do well at Millwall. In the Championship, if you don’t do enough physically and with intensity then a defeat like that is always possible.

“We didn’t need to have bad reactions in the dressing room because we already knew we didn’t do the things we needed to do to win the game.

“The next day we came in for a recovery session, and when you have lost a game like the one at Millwall that’s very difficult.

“Everyone knew what had gone wrong and why we didn’t win that game. We knew we had to change and we did that on Sunday.”

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One of the most notable changes recently has been in the dug-out, with Slaven Bilic now having been in charge for six games since replacing Rob Edwards as head coach.

“I like the coach because he gives the team a simple message, that is very efficient,” said Kamara.

“I think we will get better because he has come in and we are playing twice a week most of the time, and he hasn’t had time to do all the work he wants to do with us.

“But during the World Cup break we will have that time. We will have a month, and I think after that month we will be even better.

“But I think his way of working is a good way.”

Of course, Kamara has been playing on the left under Bilic, whereas he was often asked to play wide on the right under Edwards.

“I said to Rob that I can help the team by playing on the right side, but I cannot play there every game,” Kamara explained.

“But he’s the coach, and if he needed me there then I had to play there.

“When we attack, playing on the right is difficult for me. I like to run fast and if I do that on the right side then to cross with my right foot is harder. Because of that I prefer to play on the left side.”

Another change Bilic has made recently is to move Ismaila Sarr from the right to the left, meaning he is now in front of Kamara down that flank.

“Isma is a great teammate. He is good offensively and he defends well too. I like playing with Isma or Ken in front of me, because when we have to defend they listen to me and if players don’t listen then it makes it harder to defend well.

“But they both listen to me when we have to defend, and then obviously when we are attacking they are both very good.”

It could have been very different this season for Kamara as his summer transfer to Udinese meant he might have not have been at Watford at all, but for a season-long loan back arrangement. Did the Udinese move come out of nowhere?

“It wasn’t a surprise to me, no,” he said.

“I knew in the transfer window there may be an offer for me, but I didn’t know who those offers may be from.

“Udinese made me a proposal and I signed because football is my job and sometimes you need to think about what is important. Udinese gave me a move that provided security and I was happy to go there.

Does the transfer mean his time at Watford will be up when this season ends, or could he return?

“Another loan back to Watford? It’s possible, yeah it’s possible,” he said.

Teammate Joao Pedro is another player still at Vicarage Road despite transfer window rumours, and he starred in Sunday’s derby demolition job.

“He is a good player already, and he is very important to the team. I think with time he will improve his game even further. That is normal with a young player.

“If he stays focussed and he continues to work hard in training on his game then I think he could be a very good player.

“But talent is never enough on its own. For any young player, they need to know that with just talent it is impossible to go far.

“But Joao is a very good player and if he continues to work hard like he does now, I am sure he will go onto great things.”

Luton boss Nathan Jones described the Watford front line as “probably the best in the division”.

“Yes, we have a very good forward line,” agreed Kamara.

“But football is played collectively – you can have the best forward line but that is not enough if the team is not performing collectively.

“We need to play together, as a team – that means defensively as well as offensively.

“If the forward line doesn’t receive good balls and passes, or if they are alone in playing well, then they cannot win games on their own.”

Of course, with so many injuries at the back, defending has been a problem for Watford this season, but Kamara says the responsibility for that goes beyond those players who line up in defence.

“When you look at Millwall, where did their chances come from? It was long balls, it was free kicks, it was throw-ins. It wasn’t chances created from play, it was chances that came from set plays where we didn’t defend as a team.

“When the opposition has a free kick, the whole of our team has to come back to defend. It’s a mental thing. It’s not about football, in those situations it’s mentality. Millwall wanted to win.

“That’s not a style of play I came across in France, long balls into the box. It’s more an English thing. Maybe when I played in academy football I saw that style, but not as a professional.”

Away from matches and training, Kamara has one other key member of his own personal team.

“My cat, Simba, is my friend,” he said.

“I like spending time with him, and he has been with me since I lived in France.

“I’m not sure that he helps me relax too much, because he is a bit of a ‘star cat’. He doesn’t come to me for cuddles!

“In France, there are places where you can go for coffee and take your cat. But Simba did not like that!

“When I come back from games, I’ve missed him and he comes to sit with me for a cuddle. But on my day off, he stays nearby but there are no cuddles.”

In Sunday’s match programme, Kamara proclaimed he had the best dress sense in the Watford changing room.

“Who said that?!” he asked, before being reminded he had and it had appeared in print!

“My dress style I cannot explain to you. To understand you have to see it.

“Nobody in the Watford dressing room is really bad. Every player dresses well. I haven’t seen one player who has bad dress sense.

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“Maybe sometimes Edo Kayembe – he wears a lot of colours. But even he is good.”

In the same programme article, Kamara also said he had some great glasses.

“Yes, for England I have rain glasses. It only rains here. I have no need for my sunglasses!”

When you talk to Kamara his high spirits and enthusiasm are infectious. He’s a tremendous character, friendly and polite, and the only person I have ever known in my career to come back to do some more interview!

Our initial chat had to end as he believed he had to join a training session at a certain time. We said our goodbyes and he dashed off – only for moments later there to be a knock at the door. Kamara was back!

“I don’t need to be there for another 15 minutes. We can talk some more,” he said.

Being such an ebullient character, and knowing that teammates have said the Watford dressing room last season was not a nice place to be, how did he find it having joined the club in January?

“I didn’t think the dressing was bad last season. It didn’t have the honesty you need in football though, because football is competitive and you can be friends but on the pitch if you look like you don’t care then you need to be able to have a teammate that says what you are doing is wrong.

“In a team you have to be able to tell your teammates what is right and what is wrong. Last season inside the dressing was good, we joked and get on. But on the pitch it wasn’t good.

“This year it is better because when things are going wrong we can say those things that need saying. We talk and try to change things, we have team meetings. I think that is the right way.

“Sometimes you need to be able to be honest. People can say to me ‘Hassane, you are wrong’ and if I can’t accept that, then I will not be able to improve my game.

“We are humans and we have to be able to talk honestly and take advice, because that is good for the team. If the team gets on well, then that is good for all the players.

“So we have to take advice, and when things are wrong we have to be able to say to each other that something is wrong. If we can’t do that, with honesty, then we cannot move forward.”

However, there is one question that Kamara admitted even he couldn’t give an honest answer to. On Saturday at Wigan, which Watford team will turn up? The one that battered Luton, or the one that folded at Millwall.

“I cannot honestly tell you. We have not won two games in a row this season, and we must change that. I hope and believe we will do that against Wigan.

“We have to be consistent, because if we are not then we will not go back to the Premier League. We have to find that consistency and I want that to start against Wigan.”