When Watford handed Preston a 5-1 pounding at Deepdale and then showed tremendous spirit to fight back and win at Blackburn in December, few would have predicted the Hornets would then win just two of their next 12 matches – and one of those against a non-league team in the FA Cup.

Performances this season haven’t just fluctuated within games, they have been something of a rollercoaster overall – and that begs the question what is the real Watford?

Is it the team that got to within touching distance of the play-off places, or is it the side that has struggled to put together a coherent 90 minutes in 2024?

Were the Hornets over-achieving in the good times, are under-achieving now, and are actually a team that is mid-table?

“I’m not sure that is the right thought,” said Valerien Ismael.

“I think that the schedule has played a massive part in the lack of consistent performances.

“We didn’t expect the league to reschedule the Sheffield Wednesday game when they did. We wanted a later date, Sheffield wanted it as soon as possible and the league decided that.

“Then we also had the cup replay that was not expected.

“So there were two games we weren’t expecting to have during the February period.

“Before that I think that when we were playing Saturday/Saturday with a clear week to work in between then we looked completely different.

“I think that is more the case.

“When you see the records we have seven or eight players who have already played 30 games, and at some point you need to manage them.

“We had senior players coming back from injury, and you need to manage that too.

“The stability we will be given now that our senior players are coming back will help the younger players to build.

“We have needed our young players lately and I think it’s the case that the lack of stability in the squad, the schedule and the tiredness came together.

“When that happens and you are not winning games it makes it complicated for the mind.”

Giving consideration to that, as there is only one midweek game in the next month, will we see the benefits of being able to do things differently?

“We now start having full weeks to train, and for the players to go through our tactical situations and to train on the areas we need to work on,” said Ismael.

“When you only have two or three days between games it’s impossible to do that. You can only focus on game after game after game.

“Now it becomes easier to manage the players, and if a player needs a rest he can have that during the week.

“But with midweek games then you have ask them to go, even if they feel something.

“It’s a schedule that ended up being not what we expected, and we have learned from that for the future so we can manage the squad differently.”