The manner of last weeks’ defeat at Leeds coupled with only one win since the opening day of the season has left Valerien Ismael to look at how Watford can be more flexible and less predictable.

And that, in turn, means he is considering all options, including personnel, positions, formations and approach.

He’s not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and nor is he hinting at massive changes only eight games into the season.

But when he was asked this morning about whether the defence may need freshening up or if he might consider using different players in key positions like the No.6 role, the head coach said he and his staff were looking at ways to engender a positive reaction to last weekend’s defeat that, in turn, would bring more victories.

“Everything can happen in every game. We assess the situation with the staff, not only last weekend’s game but other games. Every game and every situation,” he said.

“After the international break, how did the international players come back? There was a lot of tiredness, Ken got injured.

“There are a lot of situations we need to assess for the next few games, and then again after the next international break, to see if we need to have some change.

“When the international players come back to us, we need to be sure mentally they are ready to go again.

“We’ve assessed how we’ve played, and each player’s performances – what the opponents did against us, and of course the results.

“Now we have some ideas, and the first one is we need to be more flexible and less predictable for our opponents.”

The Watford boss admitted that, ultimately, it is his responsibility to solve the problems as they arise.

“It’s on me to find the way that we can combine all what we have seen on the pitch with something new, or to be more flexible,” he said.

“We know where we have the quality, and we have also made a lot of mistakes.

“But we are looking in all directions. We want more stability in the squad, that the players feel comfortable and also to be less predictable.

“Our thought at the minute goes in some directions. We have ideas, we have solutions. And at some point we will put those on the pitch to see the results.”

Tomorrow’s visitors to Vicarage Road, Middlesbrough, beat Southampton last weekend before progressing in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

That was a distinct improvement from their early-season form which saw them sitting in the bottom three.

“This is the Championship, anyone can beat anyone else. Birmingham came to us with no losses," said Ismael.

“We just focus on ourselves and what we need to do, and what energy we need to bring to the pitch on the day.

“We look at what we need to improve and focus upon our principals and our game plan.

“We still have three games before the next international break. Every game takes on its own importance, and right now the home game tomorrow is where we focus.

“We know we have strength at home, but we also know that as part of the process we need to build that same strength away from home.

“At the minute we have a home game before we play two more away games, so the focus has to be on that home game."