Blissett and McClelland look back on the defeat at Leeds

You walk out the underdog and the crowd want you to win. You believe you can do so and nothing is going to get in your way.

It is, as our captain Dan Bachmann said, ‘a game of football’ and that means you have to prepare yourself mentally to play that game, as you do anything in life.

Great actors believe they are the character they portray, great leaders have self-belief, and so we believe in them.

That was exactly what I meant when I used Graham Taylor’s first words to us in the lowly Fourth Division - he was heading for the top and he rallied his troops with a battle cry of “who amongst you is coming with me?”.

Well we were hardly going to sit in the dressing room making our minds up, with him spurring us on to intended victory in such a way. 

It is absolutely clear that we are seeing a shift in our performances for the better. A work in progress I have seen said.

Change is not instant, it is not something you can go out and buy, you have to really stick at it. A team has to get to understand who they are as individuals and when they are together before they can make their combined strengths take effect.  

To be victorious you will undoubtedly stumble along the way, otherwise it would be oh so easy and far from entertaining. Because football relies on so many variables, that’s what makes it exciting.

Not just one player or one game, but going to football and experiencing those highs, lows and everything in between.   

It is very simple, I agree with Dan. It is football. Every game should be seen as 90 minutes of pure theatre. Wishing away a season of watching football (with its ups and downs, twists and turns) just to talk about the end result is surely denying yourself the experience of all that drama.   

Yes, we all want to win. But there are no guarantees in a game. Sometimes you get a shock, sometimes a pleasant surprise. That’s all part of it.

Mentally that is what challenges players the most - you cannot get caught up in all the noise and distraction of football or allow that to affect your focus, or shake your self-belief in the part you have to play. 

We had a bad day at the office on Saturday, it could have been worse (8-0 springs to mind). 

I would rather see us building a club again over time than looking for short-term satisfaction. 

Return of the Mac

Watford’s legendary centre-half John McClelland was our Former Players Club man at Leeds on Saturday.

What did you think when we kicked off, I asked him…

McClelland: “From the first whistle it was obvious that Leeds move the ball quickly to each other and their forwards also had a great deal of pace.

John McClelland's with Tottenham's Garth Crooks during his Watford playing days. (Image: Watford Observer)

“They pressed us early on so we couldn't make progress up the pitch, something which seems to be difficult for us to get on top of currently. It actually brought back memories of my time as a Hornet, when under that type of pressure we asked TC (Tony Coton) to hold the ball a little longer to take the sting out of things.

“We then all pushed up together and he would kick it long, so we automatically then got into the other team's half. It was the simplest and most effective way of pushing the opposition back and putting ourselves in a scoring position.”

So something we should have given thought to early on. Did we contribute to our own pressure? 

McClelland: “Watford continued to short pass from the keeper all the first half so became easy to read from a Leeds point of view.

“Our centre forward hardly had a touch and when ball was kicked to him Leeds’ centre-half could stay tight and go in strong as there was no support. This did change a bit in second half when our other forward came on.”

Once the subs came on why did we continue to not make more impact?

McClelland: “Goals change games and until Leeds scored everything was a bit more level. But after that, Watford allowed Leeds players to get between their lines standing between midfield and defence. We did not close the spaces down and this directly enabled Leeds to run Watford ragged.”

The captain has talked about players being unable to cope with Leeds reputation and the atmosphere. We faced some towering opposition back in the day. Your thoughts on overcoming fear?

McClelland: “Yes, I read that. It seemed Watford were frightened at going to Leeds and I would agree that from the start it felt that way. But you cannot let another team get into your head.

“Of course I was nervous of what Liverpool could do to us (to be fair, they could have done it to any team in the country really they were that good). But I knew, as all of us did, that you had to go toe to toe with them while also playing your own game.   

“The other thing was that as a team you needed to be able to take responsibility for changing plans on the pitch yourselves - a game changes over the 90 minutes either in your favour or against you.

“We were trusted and expected to change things ourselves on the pitch if we needed to and as a team we had the awareness of each others’ abilities to be able to do that when needed.

“You can't always wait until half time and sometimes management can't get messages to players because of noise especially in a hostile crowd environment.

“That adaptability as a team and individually gives you extra confidence when a game is not going your way as it means you know you can create your own opportunities and not be overly intimidated by your opposition. 

“Just one other thought: Leicester won the league with two big strong centre halves and a line goalkeeper. So they defended deep because of a lack of pace at the back.

“They didn't have teams getting behind them, they got behind the ball and teams had to play in front of them. Watford may need to do that at times to stop teams running in behind them as Leeds did.”

• Luther Blissett is Watford’s record goalscorer and appearance maker, a club ambassador and founder of the Former Players Club.