When Quique Sanchez Flores starts talking tactics you listen. And you listen good. If not you’re likely to miss something as the Spaniard rattles through his plans to turn Watford into a competitive Premier League side.

There are no clichés used by the Hornets head coach. None of his players are ‘triffic’ or are ‘working their socks off’ during pre-season. It is all substance with Flores.

So when he is asked how Watford’s training camp in Germany has progressed over the past six days it gives the former Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Benfica boss the opportunity to explain his thoughts in detail.

“We have to think about the step up,” he says. “Playing in the Premier League is a high level and we are going to find very serious opponents.

“We need a strong team, a good unit. We must be clear how we want to play and the players are understanding everything I want.

“Sometimes the perspective people have of British football is: ‘Tactically England is not good.”

“But I have found the players are ready and understand everything. You put one concept on the pitch and they quickly understand and transmit good feedback.”

After pausing for breath, Flores continues: “The players must recognise the one kind of system we are going to play, however, sometimes we may play 4-2-3-1 and other times we’ll play 4-4-2.

“To create the mechanisms of the system is very important but the most important thing is that the players know what we want from them on the pitch.

“At the moment we are very far away from the performance we have in our minds but this is normal in pre-season.

“The players need to make mistakes in order to learn in different areas. So I am not worried about the results and I am not worried about the performances.

“After every single match I have the sensation that we are progressing when it comes to the system.

“We must create a good defensive system because in England it is very easy to lose your shape when there are direct balls going across the pitch.

“So we need to choose how we will defend; high, low or in the middle. That is very important to decide during the game.”

Since arriving in Germany on Monday morning Watford’s players have been put through double training sessions almost every day. There has been no let up.

So much so that - after having sessions disrupted by Turkish side Besiktas during the week, the Turkish club stayed at the same hotel - the Hornets made the decision to cancel yesterday’s friendly against Eintracht Braunschweig in order to spend more time on the training pitches.

“They may have been our strongest opponent this week,” Flores admits. “But unfortunately the circumstances meant it was impossible to play. For me at the moment the most important thing now is to train.

“If we play that is good. If not we can train. So we didn’t play but we had four training sessions and that is very important for us.

“At the moment are doing the basic things. We want three or four aspects that will identify our play. After that we will think of progressing.”

Watford are back in action tomorrow when they take on SC Paderborn 07 – a game that will certainly take place.

And for Flores, you know it will be more than just an opportunity to get ‘minutes under the belts’ of his players.

The Watford Observer's trip to Germany has been kindly sponsored by DAS Heating, Bathrooms & Lighting Supplies Ltd. Visit www.dasheating.co.uk/shop/ for more information.