Having been so impressive coming off the bench this season, there was a clamour for Kwadwo Baah to get his chance from the start in a league fixture.

That happened at Preston, but he was fielded as a No.9 with Vakoun Bayo on the bench and Daniel Jebbison sidelined with a slight heel injury.

That felt a little harsh on Baah, who has looked at his most threatening either as a No.10 or when played out wide.

“Baah deserved his chance I felt tonight,” said Tom Cleverley.

“While it wasn’t in his recognised position, even playing as a No.9 you find yourself in a lot of one v one scenarios, so I had no doubt that we would see a good version of him.

“It just wasn’t his game tonight.”

It meant that the Hornets started the match at Deepdale without a recognised No.9 on the pitch.

“I like the balance of the team at the minute and I like the system, and how we rotate, and Kayembe and Chakvetadze are really important players,” said Cleverley.

“And so is Bayo: we can’t seem to play as well as a team without Bayo in the team, but I know people will dwell on the chances he missed.”

If there was anyone to come out of the defeat at Preston with some credit it was defender Angelo Ogbonna.

The Italian continued to steer his defensive colleagues throughout and his reading of the game is evident.

However, he was substituted 10 minutes after half-time.

“I wasn’t saving him but he’s not getting any younger and he’s not had a pre-season,” explained Cleverley.

“He said to me at half-time that he had 10 or 15 minutes left and he was pushing himself to the maximum.

“So there was no saving him for the weekend, that’s all he had left.

“So we did what we did because I’ve liked 4-3-3 to be a back-up option but right now we’re simply not good enough at defending our box when we only have two centre-halves playing.”