While results in the summer friendlies weren’t particularly good, Tom Cleverley said he felt the players absorbed what he and his coaches were asking them to do.

Only two weeks ago Watford were beaten 3-2 at Wycombe and looked quite forlorn at times.

Wind forward 14 days and the risk of reading too much into results in friendlies was there to see as the Hornets backed up Saturday’s win at Millwall with the 5-0 pasting of MK Dons.

“Pre-season is all part of the process, and although we didn’t have great results in pre-season I felt we got strong messages across,” Cleverley said.

“We probably didn’t pay as much respect to the opposition from a staff point of view in pre-season in terms of analysing and creating game plans: we were focussed on ourselves.

“I’m not taking these two results for granted, but I think those messages from pre-season are coming out in our performances.

“We’ve done that with consistency and now we’ve got to work really hard to make sure that is the case going forward.”

There were seven changes to the starting XI from Saturday to Tuesday, and over the course of the 90 minutes Cleverley gave debuts to seven players (if you count Jonathan Bond’s second stint at the club!).

Yet while the personnel may have changed, and some of those who played were in not-so-familiar roles, they moved from a good display on Saturday to a commanding one on Tuesday pretty seamlessly.

“Yeah, that’s the plan. That is our goal,” said the Watford boss.

“We have a clear game plan for each game, and whoever is in the team for that game has to understand exactly what is wanted of them in possession and out of possession.

“It’s a process we continue to work towards and tonight the lads that came in carried it out really well.”

A lot of those lads were, indeed, lads: the Hornets ended the game with three teenagers and five under-25s on the pitch, having started with another teenager, Rocco Vata.

None of them looked out of place and many were really fun to watch.

“The young lads show me that every day,” said Cleverley.

“There is really exciting potential in this squad, and although I said at the weekend it’s substance over style for now, we have some really exciting young players with potential that really should get the fans excited.

“Don’t expect too much from them too soon though. I played under the manager who said that more than anyone, Sir Alex, so let’s not apply pressure on them too much too soon.”

Having been starved of anything much to enjoy last season, the home fans saw five goals as Watford made it eight in two games.

“When I came in for the final nine games of last season we tightened the team up at the back, but we didn’t look as productive in front of goal,” Cleverley recalled.

“Now I wouldn’t be so quick as to say we have solved all those problems, but we’ve scored eight goals in our first two games and that gives our forward players real belief.

“It’s a solid start at the top end of the pitch.”

And most of all, the young head coach has hit the ground running in the new season.

“I’m enjoying myself because it’s my dream job and I care a lot about this football club,” he said.

“But I also get real enjoyment out of the process of improving my players and improving my team.

“I will work tirelessly to strive for perfection.”