Just as his manager did, Jake Livermore said after the win over Sheffield Wednesday that Watford’s young players need to be handled differently at different times – but they also need to be patient.

At 33, the former England midfielder is one of the elder statesmen in the Vicarage Road dressing room and has said since joining that he aims to bring more to the club than just during 90 minutes on a matchday.

He could be seen talking to his teammates both on Saturday and at Cardiff recently, and he is using his experience to help those little more than half his age.

“Some players need an arm around them, and some need fire putting in their belly. I was young once and there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” he said.

“That’s what good team spirit is all about – recognising each individual and what they’re good at.

“Against Wednesday, it was a perfect example. There were boys disappointed not to start but they came on and proved themselves. They did a great job for the team and we took the three points.

“It’s difficult for effective players like Kone and Asprilla when they are not starting because all they want to do is play football. They took their chance against Wednesday, and credit to the manager for his changes and his timing of the changes.

“Our patience and quality came through in the end.”

And, like his manager, Livermore also cited the need to have a strong bench that can be used to change a game or defend a lead.

“Everybody played their part with the minutes they had on the pitch, wearing down the opposition, running in behind and winning their tackles. The boys who started and the boys who came on were all magnificent,” he said.

“We’ve had a great attitude the last couple of weeks, really sticking together, and that showed with the boys who came off the bench.

“They really showed their quality, and more important than that for me is their mentality to come on and make a real impact.

“There’s some great talent there among our young players and they’re all willing to learn, which is the best thing. They’re all willing to buy into the manager’s style and we’re going to need that.

"There will be times when it’s frustrating for the fans, for ourselves and for players who aren’t playing.

"This is the Championship which has so many games. So much can happen and things can change so quickly. We need to be ready to adapt. More than anything else we need to be together, and we showed that today.”

While feeling that the Hornets have played better than their points tally suggests, he also conceded that Watford need flexibility in their style of play.

“Teams make it difficult for us to sit in and we’ve been unfortunate in a lot of games,” he said.

“We should have come away from Cardiff with another two points. In various games this season we’ve been the better side with more of the ball. But teams raise their game against us and it’s difficult to break them down.

“I hope we can find different ways of doing that as we build on this performance.

“Wednesday did the high press very well to be fair to them but we were brave and kept going. We made mistakes and gave the ball away a couple of times but we reacted well and stuck to our game plan.

“Games open up – Wednesday couldn’t keep doing that for 90 minutes. We kept doing what we were doing. Continue, continue, continue playing in the manager’s system and gaps will open up.

“That one gap led to a goal. We need to stay disciplined, we need to stay confident in what we’re doing and stay focussed on what the manager had set out for us during the week.

“We did that, and the goal came.”