It comes after only four league games, and there’s another one little more than a month away, but the international break that pauses Championship fixtures is welcomed by Tom Cleverley.

The Watford boss, like some before him, is treating this somewhat staccato start to the season – which sees breaks in September, October and November – as an opportunity to treat the first months of the campaign as blocks of games.

And after each block, the break in play gives him and his staff time to assess and analyse before pushing on.

“I think this break comes at a good time,” he said.

“It’s important for us as staff to reflect on what we’ve been good at, and what we can improve on.

“It’s important for the players to get some rest.

“And then we get some direction as to how we attack the next block of games in between now and the next international break.

“A real positive of this break period is the introductions of the new players, and you have a chance to really imprint our game plan on them.

“They’ll be able to get the understanding of what I’m looking for from them and you can use these coming days to your advantage in that respect as well.”

After Sunday’s defeat at Sheffield United, the head coach didn’t feel his side had stood off the host unduly.

“I don’t think we were too respectful, and certainly not in the first half,” he said.

“In the second half we maybe lost our confidence through too many mistakes in possession -  not vital mistakes but we lost our rhythm and then you lose confidence in being able to control the game.

“If you do that, then they will 100% take control because they have good players.

“Games like this, they are the challenge for our side because we’ve come a long way in the last five games.

“The next level of our progression is to come to places like this and feel mentally like you belong, and that you can dominate these games.

“We didn’t quite pass that challenge today, but it’s part of a process that we will continue to strive for.”