Quique Sanchez Flores believes Watford can harbour ambitions of improving on their superb 2015, despite suffering defeat against Tottenham to sign off the year.
Since winning promotion to the Premier League, Watford have enjoyed an excellent start to life back in the top flight and are seventh in the table at the midway point.
Flores' men did suffer a setback against Tottenham, as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat courtesy of Son Heung-Min's 89th-minute winner and had Nathan Ake sent off.
Yet an upbeat Flores told his post-match media conference: "Every single match we play against big teams we are more and more and more competitive, we are more close to winning these kind of games.
"We have a lot of reasons to be completely happy, it [Watford's form] is not a miracle, the reason is the hard work that the players are doing every single day.
"We finish the first leg [of the season] and the condition of Watford is very positive.
"I try to say we are ambitious, we want more. We have passion for this sport, we need to translate to the people that we want more."
Ake was dismissed after catching Tottenham's Erik Lamela - who scored the opening goal - with a high boot.
Flores added: "He [Ake] is a very, very fair player, he always plays in a good way. I think this kind of player you need to love.
"He went to the ball with the desire to take the ball, in this case he doesn't need to apologise."