Watford got back to doing the basics well at Elland Road on Tuesday night.

Head coach Tom Cleverley has said several times recently that his side will not be as consistent as they need to be if they cannot do the key elements well enough.

Against Leeds, he was more pleased with that part of their performance.

“Yeah the basics – to run, to win your duels, to be good at set pieces – were there tonight,” he said.

“I don’t know how we’ve not scored from a set piece tonight.

“We were winning second balls, we had good game management – all these things that we were nowhere near on Saturday were there tonight.

“It’s no coincidence that every good performance coincides with us being good at the basics.”

Cleverley admitted to being worried about what might happen when his side went 2-0 down so quickly.

“You sort of worry a little bit because you know going 2-0 down so early is a big character test, but I thought we handled it excellently,” he reflected.

“We didn’t let Dan’s mistakes cloud how we wanted to play.

“I thought from minute 15 to about 70 we totally dominated the game, and credit to Leeds because they are one of those sides that even when they aren’t at their best they know how to win.

“I thought we showed fantastic personality with the ball this evening. We were playing through Moussa and Edo, we looked to find Incey and Giorgi in pockets, we had our wing-backs arriving late.

“All the things that we’ve worked on and had being doing so well were there again this evening.

“We just gave ourselves too much to do.”

The Hornets boss said although the performance showed a marked improvement from Saturday, he still found it hard to take any satisfaction from a loss.

“The way I’ve been brought up it’s difficult to be positive in a defeat,” he admitted.

“But I understand that the performance tonight compared to Saturday was chalk and cheese, and it is a good show of character.

“You could see it was a group of players that care and have personality.

“It stands us in good stead for moving forward and now it is all about consistency.

“The best players from the top level of international football down are the ones who are the most consistent and do the basics day in day out.

“Those things were applied well this evening but they always have to be, and in this league more than any other.”