One down, 37 to go. The overture has barely finished on Watford's Premier League season, but the early signs are already tuneful.

Marco Silva has repeatedly mentioned during pre-season how commitment and workrate as two bedrocks of his footballing philosophy, and they were evident in abundance as the world got the first taste of his vision for the Hornets against Liverpool on Saturday.

Miguel Britos' bundled 93rd-minute equaliser was no less than Watford deserved from a rollercoaster league opener, and the timing of it showed a never-say-die attitude that rarely featured under the ill-fated Mazzarri era.

Put it this way - last season, Mazzarri's maligned Hornets scored only five times in the final 10 minutes of games, while their pourous defence conceded 12 goals in that same period.

But the new look to the Silva-branded Watford team, despite fielding nine regular first-teamers from 2016/17, began a long time before the 80th minute.

For most of the first half, the Hornets looked the side tipped to make the Champions League for the second year in succession, and it was Liverpool more akin to a team that finished fourth bottom of last season's top flight.

The finer details will be ironed out in the coming weeks, but the way Watford harried and pressed the Reds, with Daryl Janmaat and Jose Holebas barely giving Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah a moment's rest, until the former's untimely departure with injury, was impressive.

This column has previously taken umbridge with using personnel issues as an excuse - but losing Janmaat was a significant blow for both the Hornets and head coach Silva, as Kiko Feminia, on his Premier League debut, looked every bit a winger playing out of position as his replacement.

Stefano Okaka also saved one of his best performances in a Watford shirt to unsettle the Reds - scoring inside eight minutes, using his strength to tremendous effect and showing record signing Andre Gray, watching on from the bench, that Troy Deeney might not be his only competition for a starting berth.

It felt strange to be watching such a well-drilled side - at times last year, Mazzarri's Watford looked well up for the fight, but rarely did they look as disciplined as the Hornets did in that first 45 minutes.

But Liverpool are better than to be restricted for a whole 90, especially so early in the season when the Gegenpress has not taken its toll on their stamina.

They could have scored more than the two they did in a 20-minute spell of dominance after the break, and it showed Silva exactly what still needs to be done.

As scintilating as some of the hosts' play was, the Watford head coach gave as much air time post-match to his grievances with Watford's defending than he did their never-say-die attitude. It is a measure of a very different man to the one prowling the home dugout this time last year.

Arguably easier tests will follow in the next fortnight, with Bournemouth and Brighton, both beaten on the opening day, very different propositions to Klopp's title chasers.

The immediate question is whether Silva can get an individual monkey off his own back - and shake off an away-day hoodoo which left him without a single victory on the road with Hull City last season.

On the promise of Saturday, it is certainly a possibility. But even then, this is Watford, and we don't do things the easy way.