There were no arguments with the result today from Tom Cleverley, just disappointment that Watford “went out with a whimper”.

The Hornets head coach said he would also be looking back at the game in detail to work out why a team that had scored goals freely and looked threatening in their first five games of the season, then were lack-lustre and short of potency in the final third.

“If you summarise the result I think it was a fair one, and we have to acknowledge when that’s the case,” Cleverley admitted after the 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United.

“I thought in the first half we made a really poor start to the game again, and we will need to address that.

“After that I thought both sides created their fair share of good chances and we weren’t as clinical as we have been in the last four or five games.

“Then in the second half there just no rhythm from us at all.

“Credit to them, because they kept possession well and sort of knocked us out of rhythm.

“We need to be better at trying to be patient and really focussing on making no technical mistakes, because they will accumulate pressure.

“We just didn’t do that today in the second half.”

Although they managed only two attempts on goal after half time – both of which were off target – Watford did create, but fail to take, chances before the break.

“After the goal, in the first half there was real balance in terms of dangerous opportunities at both ends,” the Watford head coach said.

“Unfortunately we just couldn’t find that killer instinct, and that’s not been the case.

“We’ve scored 15 goals in five games before today. I’m struggling to put my finger on why today that wasn’t there.

“We didn’t create in the second half, and I thought they saw the game out well.

“What we need to address is why we couldn’t break them down.

“I thought our players looked a little bit leggy in the second half.

“It was disappointing that we went out with a little bit of a whimper.”