It almost feels churlish to question a striker who is in the division’s top 10 scorers, but the way that Watford play they need their No.9 to offer more than finding the net – and Mileta Rajovic appears to be struggling to meet that need.

The 24-year-old has scored eight in 22 appearances since joining from Kalmar in August, but the big question is how much he brings when he’s not hitting the net.

In 90 minutes at Home Park, the Dane had one blocked shot, four touches in the Plymouth box and played only two passes into the final third.

Considering his size, not winning any of four aerial duels is a disappointing stat.

It's also noticeable that he has not achieved an assist in any of his 23 appearances for the Hornets.

However, the two moments in Monday's game at Plymouth that perhaps most pertinently showed where Rajovic needs to improve came when he was twice failed to properly engage in a 50/50 with keeper Conor Hazard.

In the first half he ran onto a poor back-pass and seemed favourite to get to the ball first, only to ease back as Hazard dashed off his line to clear.

There was a similar situation late in the second period and again Rajovic appeared not to commit himself, affording Hazard the chance to clear unchallenged.

“He has to be better. He has to be stronger,” said Valerien Ismael.

“We spoke with him, and he knows that. He is a young kid, and he needs to learn a lot.

“I think he’s done well in the first seven months in the Championship, and he’s scored eight goals so in that department we are happy with his performance.

“But now, with the link-up play in our game, he needs to improve. We know that and we will work with him.”

At the other end of the pitch, the Hornets have now failed to keep a clean sheet in 10 games – in the five games before that they enjoyed a shut-out four times.

“We had the same problem earlier in the season, and we stayed calm and found the solution. Now we have to stay calm again,” said the Watford boss.

“I said to the players we just need to focus. Every team wants to keep clean sheets but at some point you also have to focus on yourself scoring goals.

“We are scoring goals, we are playing well, but now we have to adjust some situations on set pieces and how we defend in our box.”