…on opening-day fixtures

There were some positives at West Brom, but not too many. We expected a difficult game and we dominated possession but didn’t do enough with it - which is unlike us really as we saw from last season.

It doesn’t help to get off to a good start when you’re playing teams like Manchester United and Liverpool, so we were disappointed with the West Brom result.

We wanted to get up and running and get the momentum early on, so we’re disappointed by that.

…on historical matches with Watford

We’ve had some really good battles with Watford, back to our Championship days where we won some and lost some. In the Premier League they’ve been competitive games. We need to get our tempo and passing moving and if we do that we will have a good chance.

They had a good shape against Liverpool and you could see that Marco Silva has worked with them, they’ve always been able to bring good players in and this summer’s been no difference.

They’ve always had a good front line, with creativity in wide areas. We look forward to going up against them again on Saturday.

…on opposite number Marco Silva

We played Hull in Marco Silva’s first game and that day Hull were very impressive, came from a goal down and were very strong. He built spirit from quite a low ebb.

After the game he also left an impression on me, he was very friendly and knowledgeable and had done his research about the Premier League. It doesn’t surprise me that he still in the league with a job.

…on Jermain Defoe’s Watford availability

It wasn’t a knock, Jermain had a tightness in his groin after the Valencia game and he didn’t train properly until just before West Brom. He is in contention to start on Saturday.

…on the potential for further incomings

Possibly it could happen in one position, but it’s not a must. While we’re short in numbers we’re very high in quality and the pool of players we have is very strong – that’s my issue if we were to get any injuries.

Our plan was always to get our business done early. The fact that there’s inactivity now, I don’t buy into the theory that the fans are getting restless as we have brought in great quality already.

…on the proposed new training facilities

It’s hugely exciting for this football club. With the stadium as well those are the two areas we need to improve upon to try and bring longevity to what we’re doing here, to get better players and bring young players through - that’s what we really need to do.

When you’re competing with other clubs for players and its and even race the training ground and many other factors come to relevance.

More than that, for the young players in the area the facilities haven’t been good enough for them and that’s something we want to improve. I’ve been along that path at this club and it’s an exciting time now for the club.