Quique Sanchez Flores believes Watford can remain competitive without captain Troy Deeney, primarily by getting the fringe players to fight for places.

Currently, the new head coach thinks his team are suffering slightly from a lack of confidence, but thinks by reinvigorating his fringe players' desire to make the starting lineup, he can create a competitive dynamic within the squad.

"The next match we don't have Deeney to play, so we need to use the players we have," said Sanchez Flores.

"But the most important thing is to create this kind of dynamic that we don't miss players when they're injured because getting injured in football now is very easy. 

"We're going to lose players of course during the season, so for us the most important thing is to have this kind of mentality in all our players.

"It's very important to have a good team, a good lineup, but it's very good to recuperate the players who don't feel useful for the squad right now. I need to recuperate the players that don't play too much, that think they don't have opportunities. We need all of them. That's why the club chooses these players, to try to help the team

"The players, when they don't win or they are in this kind of position in the league, of course they're a little bit depressed and not confident enough. This kind of thing you need to treat and repair.

"Of course, they're not completely happy with the situation, but I can feel in these days that they want to show that they are able to play well, they are ready, they are listening, they are working, but these kinds of things happen when you replace someone. Everyone wants to show you it's possible to be in the lineup from the first day."

Sanchez Flores believes that the players he has are more than good enough to once again get the club moving in the right direction and said he never believed they would ever be bottom of the league.

He also thinks the decision to bring him back in place of Gracia demonstrates the club's ambition and shows why they can achieve "something special". 

"I never see Watford at the bottom," he said.

"Three years ago, we were never there. The last three years, it was impossible to think about that, but football's very hard right now. It's very equal, very even and everything is pure competition, so everything is possible.

"We need to go out of this position as soon as possible.

"The ambition is the same. This is a club that is very clear about the way they want to grow and so I realise of course they have changed a lot of things, the training ground, the players, the squad.

"But [what they want] is exactly the same what they wanted from me three years ago.

"Now it's a little bit different because they're established in the Premier League, they want to keep going in the same category, so the pressure is the same, but the squad and the objective of the club they are different.

"I'm confident we can work together and we can do something special."