"It's not time to panic," insisted Tom Cleverley after Watford were beaten 1-0 away at Luton Town on Saturday, with arguably their worst performance of the season.

While the club's position in the league would suggest the midfielder is right, there was still enough on display at Kenilworth Road to cause concern for at least some sections of supporters.

Tactically, the Hornets were overrun in midfield and regularly exposed in the full-back positions, while mentally they seemed ill-prepared for a contest that supporters had been constantly highlighting the importance of throughout the week.

Head coach Xisco Munoz showed a degree of pragmatism when talking to the press after the defeat, saying "we knew we would have some difficult moments," suggesting he is still relaxed about the remainder of the season, but with a game away at league leaders Norwich City falling tomorrow night, he will need to work out very quickly just why they found it so tough.

More illuminating perhaps were Luton manager Nathan Jones' quotes after the game.

Asked if he had deliberately targeted Watford's full-backs, one of whom sloppily gifted the hosts a chance from which they won a penalty, while the other was sent off late in the game, he said: "Tactically, a lot of stuff we worked on came off today. That's not for me to say that we worked on getting the ball over the full-backs, we worked on a lot of stuff.

"Tactically, I thought we got it right."

The understanding of when to press high and when to drop back from those wide defenders has been highlighted as a potential source of joy for teams playing against Watford this season and, coupled with a dominating display in the centre of the park, the Hatters were able to make the most of it.

Until now, that potential shortcoming has been mitigated mainly by Kiko Femenia's swashbuckling attacking and clever link-up play with Ismaila Sarr, with the Hornets more often than not on the front foot. However, in games like Saturday's it cost them dearly. 

To cut the Hornets some slack, they were dealt a harsh blow ahead of kick off with sickness forcing Adam Masina to give way, meaning a clearly unprepared Achraf Lazaar had to play, but as Munoz himself said after the game, there are 24 players who should be ready to play, regardless of notice.

While Lazaar would not have expected to start on Saturday, players themselves are not made aware of the starting XI until they leave the hotel on match days. Throughout the week, the shape is worked on with all members of the squad, meaning the stand-in left back will have had some idea of what he was supposed to be doing.

If Masina has not recovered by tomorrow, and with Femenia now suspended, those wide defensive areas could be even more of a concern at Carrow Road.

It was those frailties in particular that allowed Luton to create plenty of chances, which was something Watford coincidentally had real difficulty doing themselves. 

Any attempts from the Hornets to get the ball down and pass their way forward were easily thwarted by the home side, who closed off all the usual attacking routes, forcing Watford to play backwards, resulting in a far fewer completed passes than they usually make.

This also allowed Luton to defend higher up the pitch and reduced Watford to harmless potshots from outside the box that never looked like finding the net.

What was most concerning about this was how little things seemed to change in the second half. 

Isaac Success was brought on at half time, Joao Pedro was dropped deeper into an attacking midfield role and some midfield shuffling did take place. However, it was still far too similar to what was on display prior to the break that the Hatters were able to adapt to it without any real difficulty.

By the end of the match, Munoz had thrown on Tom Cleverley, Joseph Hungbo and Andre Gray, but even with that attacking complement, Luton remained more or less untroubled.

The lack of an obvious and coherent plan B questions just how ready the players are to adapt to different situations, something Munoz regularly suggests they work on every week in training.

That’s not to doubt Munoz in any way, particularly after the turnaround he has overseen since his arrival, he deserves some leeway. After all, sometimes, these things do just happen. Nowhere other than football does the unpredictable occur quite so regularly.

Furthermore, the head coach is quite correct to say that there will be difficult moments before the end of the season. Expecting otherwise, is not realistic. Saturday was, at least in my opinion, the most difficult moment to stomach, but there are not too many difficult moments, certainly since Munoz has arrived, to choose from.

It is important to not dwell too much on that defeat and remember that this has, for the most part, been a positive campaign and things are still very positive despite the result and the performance.

Brentford and Swansea both drew on Saturday as well, meaning no real harm was done to Watford’s chances of promotion. There’s still a decent gap between them and the chasing pack and with games running out, you’d expect the club to still be optimistic about their chances.

However, the weekend’s result does need to serve as a warning of what can happen if either complacency or a lack of preparation are permitted to creep in.

With games against Brentford and Swansea still to be played this season, as well as tomorrow’s match against the already-promoted Canaries, anything short of full preparation could have dire consequences and, for Watford to have come as close as they are only to fall at the final hurdle, would be potentially disastrous.

That need not be the case if they can remain calm and play the games rather than the occasions for the rest of the season, starting by providing the requisite response tomorrow evening. From here on in, it’s about handling pressure and managing expectations.

A couple of weeks ago, Munoz was asked how nervous he was feeling about the remainder of the season and the Spaniard said he was full of excitement rather than anxiety.

The balance might have just slipped a bit more towards nervousness after Saturday, as he prepares for his biggest test yet as Watford head coach, but he will no doubt feel he can deal with it.

He has four games now to show everyone else whether or not he is right to back himself.