Being on the front foot, in every game, is what head coach Slaven Bilic is asking of his players.

One of the aspects of the win over Norwich on Saturday was that the Hornets were positive from the off, and had players all over the pitch that wanted the ball and were looking to be going forward.

“That is what I want. I want to see our players wanting to be on the ball. I want them to want to be in possession,” said Bilic.

“I like my players to be the protagonists, not just another player on the pitch. I want our players to be the locomotive, not one of the carriages.

“I want to see our players affect and influence the game.”

READ MORE

Head coach looking for that British mentality

Injury updates and team news ahead of Millwall trip

The head coach said that while some players are those he expects to want to have a lot of the ball, Saturday’s game was a bonus as there were others who also wanted to be in possession and were looking to be progressive.

“With players like Louza and Pedro you always have that,” he said.

“Look at Asprilla, he is very young but he is always like ‘I want the ball, give me the ball’.

“But to get that that same desire to have the ball from players like Troost-Ekong and Cathcart – that’s brilliant. It is one of the things that pleases me the most.”

Watford looked to be well in the driving seat at 2-0 up in the first half on Saturday night, only for Norwich to reduce the arrears right on half-time.

However, Bilic found a positive in having to fight hard for the points.

“In a way, winning that game 2-1 was preferable to us winning 4-0,” he said.

“We had to battle, Norwich are second in the table and a good team, we had to respond to conceding just before half time.

“Our second half performance wasn’t as good as what we did in the first half, but it wasn’t like we were all inside our own box praying for the whistle.

“Winning a game in the way we did on Saturday gives you confidence. That win stays in the mind and gives the players good memories, and gave us all a good experience.”

Bilic said that while he expects Millwall to put his side under pressure tomorrow, he knows he has the players who can be threatening at the other end of the pitch.

“I believe we will be confident when the game starts tomorrow night,” he said.

“There will be spells where they have more of the ball and we’ll have to suffer. They are the best team in the league at set pieces by far, and we will have to be ready for that.

“But I also know we can, and expect us to, be able to hurt them in their box too.”