Troy Deeney has seen enough from Nigel Pearson to know he is the right man to turn around Watford’s fortunes.
The former Leicester boss was appointed as Quique Sanchez Flores’ successor last week, taking over a Hornets side who are six points from safety in the Premier League after winning just once all season.
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to unbeaten leaders Liverpool, Deeney believes Pearson has what it takes to steer Watford to survival.
“We’ve always been united, but he [Pearson] has just galvanised us and given us a new edge,” Deeney told the club’s official website.
“The gaffer is very straight to the point, very honest, and I think at this point you have to be honest. You have to be aware of what we’re not doing.
“It’s easy to talk and say we’ve not won enough games, or scored, or whatever it might be. But you have to be brutally honest in terms of the whole thing that we haven’t done enough.
“It’s a tough start but it’s been a good week, the work has been fantastic. The gaffer, Shakey (Craig Shakespeare), Hayden (Mullins) and Stacky (Graham Stack) have all put work in.
“The boys have all got that buzz, that spring in the step, they’re ready to work and we’re looking forward to the weekend.”
Watford are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season, netting just nine times in 16 games.
But Deeney, who is now back to full fitness, believes his side need to improve in all areas of the field.
“You can’t put it down to one thing and say we haven’t scored enough goals,” he said.
“Everyone knows we haven’t scored enough goals, but we also haven’t kept enough clean sheets. There are numerous things we could say, but we can’t pinpoint one.
“We’re at a situation where a lot of the smaller details are mounting up to big problems, but we’re addressing them and fixing them, and people can see that with the last two performances.”
The trip to Anfield is the first of five games in the space of 18 days for Watford.
“We’re coming into the best and the busiest part of English football now with the Christmas period where there are games left, right and centre,” Deeney said.
“If we can pick up two or three wins in that short space of time, the table looks completely different.”
