Watford’s players have shown they can score goals already this season, but not being able to train properly in the midst of the current busy schedule is not helping them.

That was the view of head coach Valerien Ismael after yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff.

The goals have dried up recently: the Hornets have not scored in their last two league games having netted at least once in each of the previous 11.

“We have scored goals, we can do it. It just always has to be in the mind of the players,” said Ismael.

“The disadvantage is when you are playing so often that you cannot properly train, with a full week.

“When you cannot train on the pitch it becomes more about video analysis so we can train the brain.

“We will have one session on the pitch before the next game, but as you can imagine that will be without intensity.

“That’s why we have to manage the situation, train the brain and show the players what we expect, but the best way is always to train on the pitch.”

The other problem that such a busy schedule brings is it stretches the thin squad to its limits, and with the transfer window now shut that is what Watford have left themselves to work with.

“We have to take games one by one. If I look at the schedule of games you can give yourself a headache,” said Ismael.

“The main thing after every game the first question to my physio is ‘do we have any problems?’.

“If they say all is good, then it’s phew and I can breathe again, and focus on the result.

“Then we discuss the result and the game, and already on Monday we travel to Southampton.

“It’s all about taking the games one by one, recovering properly, getting the mindset right and being ready for the next game.”

The Watford boss said he felt his side should have beaten Cardiff.

“The feeling was that throughout the 90 minutes you should win the game. The opponent shoot once on target and scored the goal,” he reflected.

“I was disappointed with the first half and the lack of ambition. We were too safe. Nonetheless we got some chances to score.

“We said to the players at half-time that you need to step up. You need to believe in yourselves, because I believe in you, we believe in you.

“But first you need to step up on the performance.

“We did that after the substitutes and it was much better. We dominated the ball more.

“But in the final third we just need to obsessed with scoring goals as that changes your destiny, especially in the period of time when it’s all about the three points.

“Losing a game at home again is very painful: we want to give something to our fans to help create an environment, and so this is a setback for us.”