Many football press conferences can often be full of platitudes, cliches and often quite anodyne affairs.

This morning at London Colney was different though, as you certainly don’t often hear the entire room roar with genuine belly laughter.

However, Watford head coach had everyone in stitches when asked if in facing Nigel Pearson tomorrow at Bristol City, it would be a different game as he was a former Watford manager.

“Who didn’t manage Watford?!” was Bilic’s quickfire reply, which was the cue for raucous laughter which Bilic – who delivered the line initially with a deadpan poker face – joined in with, before expanding on his one-liner.

“Nowadays, you know what I mean. It’s a rollercoaster, and not only at Watford,” he explained.

READ MORE: Bilic latest on Sarr's involvement tomorrow

“I said Watford because we are talking about Watford, but it’s like that in Italy too. Managers are like trading cards: he’s going there, then he’ll go there, then he’ll go there. It’s like the NBA draft.

“I like him (Pearson). I’ve not met him because we were never in the same division, I went to West Ham when he had already gone from Leicester.

“I’m looking forward to meeting him. I like his kind of people.”

Bilic feels there is no advantage for Pearson in terms of knowing some of the Watford players.

“He might know individually about some of our players, but then so do we know about some of theirs,” he said.

“It’s more important to analyse games than anything. He may know some of our players off the pitch because he spent time with them, but I don’t think it gives him any advantage. It’s not like it was this season or even last season.”

What Bilic did admit, though, is that coming up against a former club does provide an additional layer to any game.

“You do feel some extra,” he said.

“You don’t necessarily feel you have to prove something but you feel a little extra when you play against a team you’ve managed.”

After tomorrow, there is no game for the Hornets until December 11 – far longer than any regular international break and it comes at a time when Watford’s form and results have been good.

“Based on the form we are in, I wouldn’t say it comes at a good time,” said Bilic.

“I see us now as the boys really knowing what we are doing and they are feeling confident.

“They want to play. In training they are like ‘give me the ball’, which is something you don’t want to stop.

“But on the other hand, this is still early days for me and the break gives us time to do things that will make us better and help us improve.

“We also still have players out who are massively important for us and this gives us time to get them back.”

Because of the break coming up, the desire to head off into it on a good result is strong in the Watford camp.

“It’s like the feeling before every international break, except this one is even longer, you want to go into it on the back of something good,” said Bilic.

“Every game in the Championship is difficult, add to that we are away from home, add to that it’s against a team that if you let them play how they like then they will score goals.

“Their recent results suggest they are not in great form, so they will be wounded and shaken a little bit. They’re going to see this as an opportunity to get back.”

Once again this season, results in the Championship have been predictably unpredictable. Leaders Burnley were stuffed 5-2 by Sheffield United, who then lost at home to Rotherham. Fourth-placed Norwich went six without a win before two victories in their last three, while QPR climbed to the top of the table on the back of five wins in six but are now below Watford after picking up only one point from the last 12.

“Over the years in the Championship, it’s more or less the same,” said Bilic.

“The teams who do the best are the ones who have the least crises. In my memory, there are no teams who cruise in the Championship.

“It is impossible to emerge from the Championship unscratched, but if you can limit those scratches to once or twice a season then you have a chance. You can’t have a bad run of five or six games.

“When I was at West Brom, we played Barnsley away on Boxing Day and us and Leeds were the top two. The gap between the top two and the rest wasn’t huge, perhaps five or six points. We drew 1-1 at Barnsley, then lost 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough.

“On New Year’s day we drew 1-1 at home with Leeds, then we played in the FA Cup, then we drew with Charlton and lost at home to Stoke. Yet still we were in the top two, and Leeds were still only just ahead of us! How is that possible?! Everybody is losing games – so who is winning the games?!

“This league is unpredictable, so if you can reduce the number of crises and the length of them, then that’s the key.

“It’s so simple to say and so simple to have a plan, but it’s very difficult to do it. Nobody has done it so far.”