Dale put in their best performance of the season, according to the Head Coach, in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Fleetwood Town.
He believes that performance adds to the confidence in the style of play Dale are implementing.
“It gives the boys more belief in what we’re doing,” said Watson.
“Day by day we’ve seen improvements. How we want to play is different, we understand that. The boys need to think differently and learn new ways.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be a really quick process, and we’re still nowhere near where we want to get to, but winning gives the boys the belief that what we’re working on is coming out in games.
“The good feeling on Saturday came from how good we were with the ball and how much energy we had. That helps the belief, and obviously winning really helps as well.
“Football is a million different things, and you have to find ways in all moments of games.
“We want to try to control the ball and dictate games. We don’t want to flip a coin, we want to stack the odds in our favour.
“That’s why we play like we do, but we know that the opposition are all really good and that it’s a tough league.
“It will throw up many different things that we have to understand how to get through those moments. We had to suffer without the ball on Saturday at times, but it’s how we suffer, and we stayed connected and communicated really well.”
Saturday’s opponents Swindon have one more point than Dale from the opening eight games, with Watson full of praise for their manager Ian Holloway.
“We know it’s going to be a really tough game. I’ve got so much respect for their manager. He’s worked at the top level and I’ve met him briefly; he was a really good human being.
“I’ve got so much respect for how his teams play, so I’m looking forward to us going against them tactically.
“We’re going to need a lot of energy. It’s a huge game for us. We’re at home and we want to keep this momentum going, but we’re going up against a team who will want to stop that.
“They will want to get the ball back; they won’t just accept us having possession of the ball. But with that comes opportunity for us as well to identify where the space is to try and hurt them. They’re blessed with a lot of talent in the group and we’re expecting the very best version of them.”
Watch the full interview with Watson via our official YouTube channel below.
