Christian Kabasele has spoken to the media this morning after arriving home from what has been a productive and ‘tough’ week in Austria. The 27-year-old centre half gave a speech to uplift spirits amongst supporters and set straight what the Golden Boy’s intentions are for approaching campaign.

“I think aside from the top six teams, all the other teams, we are able to win those games. So we need to start against Brighton on the 11th.”

Whilst Kabasele’s position in the squad looks to be all but secured under Head Coach Javi Gracia, the Belgium national remained realistic in what the Hornets can achieve this season.

“I think first of all, we need to reach 40 points,” he said. “As soon as this is done, we can look forward to putting other targets.“It’s been a good week, a tough week. It is always like this in pre-season,” he said.

“It is very peaceful here but we need to make an effort to be in good shape for the whole season.

“When we look back at the season last year, we only reached this target two games before the end, so it’s not an easy job and we need to reach this target sooner this season.”

“For the moment the results are not so important. We want to see how we behave as a team.

“We need to increase the level and increase some tempo in our game to be well prepared for the first Brighton game.”

Kabasele made it clear that the pre-season tour in Austria was a perfect time for new faces such as Ben Foster, Ken Sema and Ben Wilmot to settle in at the club.

The 27-year-old said: “It’s a great occasion to welcome the new boys and I think they are already well settled in the team.

“It’s a good opportunity for them to get to know their team-mates.”

James Dodwell