Fans travelling to Stoke today can expect to see Watford adopt exactly the same style of play and approach as was evident in the home games with QPR and Plymouth.

Head coach Valerien Ismael is focussed purely on getting his team to do what he wants them to do, and he’s not bothered if that is at Vicarage Road or a venue hundreds of miles away.

“Playing away, for me, doesn’t change anything. We want to enforce our style. Away or at home I want to have brave play on the pitch,” he said.

“I want players wanting the ball. We attack all together and we defend all together.

“As long as we stick to our principals and try to do the right things we will be on the safe side. As soon as we try to do something else that’s not in our qualities, then we will have problems.

“We saw that in some situations in the Plymouth game. When you lose even shortly the control then it becomes a different game.

“We stick to our plan but stay flexible to the challenges we face. But our purpose is to focus on us. We want to give our performance, enforce our game and for that I need every player to be brave on the pitch.”

That level of intensity requires high fitness levels, and Ismael said the squad train twice a day during empty midweeks.

“In midweek we have two sessions in training. In pre-season the players got almost two sessions a day,” said the head coach.

“Yes, fitness is key and especially in a league like the Championship.

“All the work you put in for the season is done in the pre-season. After that, you are just reinforcing week after week the messages in training sessions.

“The players have to feel ready to play 90 minutes every three days. We saw at the minute that we are not where we want to be with our intensity for 90 minutes but every game will help us.”

With that in mind, the theory behind spending all seven weeks of a long pre-season at London Colney is now becoming clearer.

“It was a big advantage to have a seven-week pre-season as that gave us time to get the message across and reinforce the philosophy,” said Ismael.

“That was a very helpful time, and it helped that the players trained with consistency.

“From that then it is easier to implement things within the squad. When the league started we could clearly see the attitude and the philosophy. But there is always a next step and each next game is always the most important.

“We need the trust in our performance that consistency brings. If you perform with consistency it gives you more chance to get the results you want.”

As well as fitness, training this week has continued to be where Ismael and his staff hammer home the importance of having the right attitude.

“We’ve worked a lot on our principals and some situations we saw in the game against Plymouth, and areas we need to improve, messages we need to reinforce.

“The main message was to maintain the intensity, and to make sure that everyone is at the same level.

“I’m pleased with the attitude and mentality of the players so far. It’s important that we can see that with consistency.

“You need to put the effort in every game and take the games one by one. We are focussed only on the next opponent and the performance and attitude of the players has to be the base of our game.

“We always have a big desire to improve and to do things better.”