The football media seem to love a label – anyone who watched the great Watford teams under Graham Taylor will have been sick to the back teeth of hearing them described as ‘long-ball merchants’.

Some managers are seen as negative or attacking, others are pigeon-holed into being only able to play one way.

When Chris Wilder was announced as Watford’s new head coach, there was a rush on websites and social media to try and work out how he might shape his squad into the 3-5-2 it was assumed he would adopt, given that’s what he has used most recently.

However, Wilder said the formation and tactics he will deploy are not based on his own personal preferences.

“There are many different ways of playing but you have to put your best players in their best positions. You put round pegs in round holes,” he said.

“I’ve got to get players who can win games of football at the top of the pitch.

“Am I going to leave four or five players at the top end, and defend with six? Well no, because all players have a part to play out of possession as much as they do when we have the ball.

“Similarly the boys behind those who play at the top of the pitch have got a part to play to build and dominate possession that hopefully results in chances being created.”

He was particularly vexed at the idea that he would only be looking to play one formation at Watford.

“I’ve coached all different formations,” he smiled.

“I think people can be lazy sometimes and think ‘he’s 3-5-2’.

“I won promotion at Oxford United playing 4-3-3. We got 99 points at Northampton playing 4-2-3-1. At Sheffield United we played 3-4-1-2 and we got 100 points, then we tactically changed it when we got to the Premier League.

“You can’t play two midfield players in the Premier League because you get battered, because of the speed and quality of the counter attack.

“When Sheffield United went into the Premier League we needed an extra body in midfield so we had to sacrifice somebody at the top of the pitch. We knew weren’t going to dominate possession and we’d have to be really tight, but we didn’t want to be a counter attacking team either.

“We were there to compete, and we wanted to make contact with the really good players in the Premier League. Watford will have seen that this season from other teams. Opposition managers in their team talks will be asking their players to make contact with our talented players, and ask questions of them physically and mentally.

“I’ve coached every different shape and we’ll put the team in a shape we feel allows the boys to express themselves, put themselves in the best positions but while keeping a nice balance as we have to recognise there are two parts to the game.”

One thing is very clear when talking to Wilder about formations, tactics, players and performance: he is an avid user of data and analysis.

“There are a lot of lazy thought processes in football these days, and because I’m a 55-year-old lad from Sheffield that got his hands dirty in the lower leagues they think I don’t look at data and analysis,” he laughed.

“That’s rubbish. We’ll do just as much as any team in this division regarding video analysis, regarding stats, regarding player metrics, regarding running and physical data. We will cover everything.

“Because I have the background I have and I’m not the best-looking manager in the world, you get stereotypes.

“And because I want my teams to be physically strong, win headers, win tackles, be the fastest, be competitive and want to win, that comes first. It’s my upbringing, and it has defined my career.

“As a player I made 400-odd appearances, and nobody gives those to you. I had to fight all the way through.

“There are different pathways for managers and I totally respect that. There’s the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and ex-players like that; there’s the foreign managers; there’s the English managers; there are many pathways.

“There are lots of ways to get to the top of your profession and I’m proud of the way I’ve gone about it.

“If you speak to players we’ve coached and managed then, yeah, we’re demanding. We expect high standards. People talk about head coaches, what they do, how much time they spend on the grass.

“The key thing for all managers is can they deliver when you find yourself 2-0 down at 3.10 on a Saturday afternoon?”

Wilder said that even the Premier League’s finest do more than just pick and coach teams.

“I look at the top managers in the English game now and they manage so many different things,” he said.

“Eric ten Hag at United deals with issues, he wants to be involved with the Under-23s, he dealt with the Rashford issue, he dealt with the Fernandes issue, he dealt with the Ronaldo issue.

“Eddie Howe has gone into Newcastle and galvanised the club, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are the two outstanding managers that you look up to.

“Look over the fence at our training ground and there’s Mikel Arteta. Everyone has seen all the documentaries: he’s fully in on everything.

“And that’s what I am – I am fully in for this 11 games. I want to do well personally, and I want Watford to do well.

“There’s load of talk and noise about how you’re perceived. A lot of nonsense gets talked about how you are as a bloke. But people know what I’m about: I’m a competitor, I want to win and I want to go about it the right way.”