Watford’s pre-season so far has shown that new players must be brought into the squad.

That was the view of head coach Tom Cleverley after Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers.

The Hornets have brought in Moussa Sissoko, Rocco Vata and Jonathan Bond this summer, but there are still clear gaps in the group of players that Cleverley is attempting to play 3-4-2-1 with.

“Yes, I think the pre-season has highlighted that,” the Watford boss conceded.

“We must strengthen in the right areas.

“But I must focus on the players I’ve got at the minute.

“I don’t think it was our best performance. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

At times, Watford were somewhat outmuscled at Adams Park by a no-nonsense home side – a taste of what they can expect at Millwall on the first day of the Championship season.

“I think the fixture was good for us because it could mirror what to expect in the first game of the season,” said Cleverley.

“We will have to deal with that better.

“Although we want to control the game and control the possession, there are 11 players out there trying to make things not so perfect for you.

“We have to deal with those moments.

“We’re not as hard to score against as we showed in the nine games at the end of last season, and that’s something I need to address.”

Unlike last week’s friendly in Scotland against Hibs, the Hornets were never allowed to settle and regularly found Wycombe players snapping around their ankles.

“The second half especially was a really good test for six or seven of the younger lads who have probably never experienced that before,” said Cleverley.

“It’s not always like the game at Hibs where you can be on the ball and playing nicely through the lines.

“Sometimes it does get like this tonight.

“Teams who are good at set pieces, stick it through the channels, scrap for the second balls – like I said I didn’t think we were good enough in those areas tonight.”