Unbeaten in two games with the teams currently third and fifth in the Championship represents a decent Easter, but Tom Cleverley admitted he was disappointed Watford didn’t take more than two points.
They led Leeds twice on Friday and were 2-0 up at West Brom today, but finished with 2-2 draws on both occasions.
“If you strip it back and take the emotion out of it, I think the last two performances have given me real optimism for the club’s fortunes,” said the interim head coach.
“But then again I also feel a little bit hard done by that we’ve only taken two points from those two games.
“I asked the players for consistency in their performance and I felt that after a fairly cagey first half, we really put our stamp on the game in the second half.
“They showed big personality and I think that is something this team are sometimes questioned about.
“Technically and physically we know we have very good players, but mentally can we churn those performances out over a 46-game season?
“The players have given me a lot of belief that they can over these last three games.”
The home side were faster out of the traps and Watford had to dig in early on before working their way into the game.
“The surprise element of our system had gone, obviously, and we were up against a really well-coached football team,” said Cleverley.
“Corberan is a top coach and he caused us some problems with their rotations.
“At half-time we tried putting that right, and on top of that tried to stamp our mark on the game when we were in possession.
“I felt we did that fantastically but then couldn’t hold on right at the end.”
In the second half, Watford looked a threat every time they went forward and defended for their lives when called upon.
“There were some colossal performances at the back, and 99 times out of 100 if the opposition full-back gets the ball 25 yards out then you can feel fairly safe,” said Cleverley, who wanted to see the goals back before deciding if any more could have been to stop them.
“It’s a pleasure to work with these guys on a daily basis, and I think the guys at the back are very unfortunate to concede two goals today.”
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