The progression of Jamal Lewis since he joined Watford on loan in the summer encapsulates the progress made by the squad as a whole.

That’s the view of head coach Valerien Ismael, who initially had to be patient with the Northern Ireland international but has picked him in the starting XI for each of the last 12 games.

Lewis did not feature in the team until September 16, but has since gone on to play the full 90 minutes in five of the last seven games – as well as two full outings for his country.

“I think Jamal Lewis is the perfect example of our season,” said Ismael.

“He came in the summer with an injury so he didn’t really have a pre-season, and then he came back and had to adapt.

“We managed him well, and we didn’t force too much on him at the beginning.

“Week in, week out he trained with consistency, he played with consistency, and now we see that he is able to compete at that level for 90 minutes.

“He’s played for the national team as well, always 90 minutes, and he is at a high level for the full game.

“We are delighted for him that he got the breakthrough last week with an assist.

“Of course now our expectations are raising because we have put the player in the position to perform, and now for him it is about repetition of his own performance.”

Lewis has been a constantly improving performer in a Watford team that has lost one of its last nine games after being beaten three times in a row before that.

“It is always the same in football. When you are not winning games you are lacking confidence, and so you make mistakes and you don’t have the trust to pass the ball to a teammate, or you don’t even want the ball yourself anymore,” the Watford boss said.

“When you have confidence and are winning games, everything appears to be easier.

“The ball moves around well, the players enjoy themselves.

“We have got to that point, the players have worked hard to get there and they deserve it.

“If we keep the momentum and desire in the team, the players feel it. They feel they are ready and that we have something special.

“There are a lot of games now in this period of the year and we can really focus on them one by one.”

Of course, having a settled and successful side means some players having to patient – and the most patient of the lot has been Rhys Healey.

The striker has played a total of 40 minutes of Championship football since moving to Vicarage Road in the summer.

“We have a lot of room to improve and a lot of players who can improve as well,” Ismael explained.

“Some players have made a lot, some players need more time and will need more game time for sure.

“We know that we are able to get all the players onto the same level, and when we do then it will be very interesting for us.

“The competition that will create within the squad will make it difficult for us to select a team, and when they happens then it becomes more difficult for the opponents.”

Does the upcoming run of games mean the head coach will have to delve deeper into his squad?

“The game dictates always your changes, your rotation, your substitutes,” he said.

“The first game of this period is tomorrow. We focus on that and then we go from there.”

The Hornets have become more stable and solid, the errors that undermined them earlier in the season have been reduced, and they showed the necessary mentality and character in the wins over Norwich and Hull.

So what is the next area of performance the head coach looking to work on?

“What we need is exactly what is coming ahead of us: repetition of games,” he said.

“We made the level of performance last week: I think against both Norwich and Hull City we competed at a high level.

“Even against Leicester, some of the stuff we did out of possession was good. In possession, in that game, we should have been more brave.

“But now we need to repeatedly show we have the belief, the confidence within the team.

“We need to see it every game, every three days. In many other aspects of our play we are ready now, and now it is all about showing we are able to repeat the performance and go and do it again against the next team.

“When you can do that, you give yourselves more chance to win a game.

“If you win a game you reduce the gap between yourselves and the team at the top, and in doing that you create the momentum you need to compete.

“The question we have to answer now is are we able to go again to the level we have just shown, to do it even better and to do it against a strong side.”

The belief within the squad is apparent on the pitch, and Ismael said it’s equally obvious at the training ground.

“We have a lot of excellent communication.

“We talk a lot to the players as a group, individually, with video analysis. We are asking the players for their feelings, what they need in order to perform.

“We try to create an even stronger connection between ourselves, so that we have trust and can communicate.

“The players know exactly how we train. They know how we want to play. They understand what needs to be done in the game.

“Once you have that, the key thing is to build that strong connection within the squad.”