Bachmann: "It's About Building An Identity"

Watford skipper Daniel Bachmann has relished getting going again with the Hornets after some rare time off from the game.

The Austrian goalkeeper was part of the group which returned to London Colney for pre-season training on Monday (July 24), and has been putting in the hard yards alongside his team-mates.

“It’s good to be back,” Bachmann told watfordfc.com.

“For me it’s the first time in a long time that I’ve had the full summer off, so I started missing football quite a bit!

“My body is a little bit sore. But the intensity has been great from the lads and the sessions have been enjoyable.”

Pre-season can often be gruelling and the returning Hornets have had to take to the training pitch during a spell of warm weather.

“The heat doesn’t help when you’re working hard but we’d rather have it that way than rain,” said Bachmann.

“The first couple of weeks always feel a lot harder.

“If we do the same session in six weeks it won’t feel anywhere near as hard as it does now.

“It’s all part of getting back into the rhythm and getting back into the routine, getting the heart rate going and getting a lot of touches on the ball.

“Most fitness and running drills these days are all with the ball, and it’s important to get the ball involved and get moving.”

Watford Head Coach Tom Cleverley is overseeing his first pre-season in charge, which will allow the boss to better stamp his ideas on the squad ahead of the Sky Bet Championship opener at Millwall on August 10.

“Clevs has gone straight into the in-possession stuff which is going to be important,” Bachmann said.

“The last matches under him were just about getting results game-to-game.

“But now it’s about building a team, building consistency, building a way of playing football with a formation and building our own identity.”