Three games in eight days delivered five points and saw the Hornets unbeaten, but Tom Cleverley felt they fell short of what they were looking to achieve.

A 2-2 draw at Plymouth and the 1-0 midweek win over Bristol City were followed up by the 0-0 draw with QPR.

Watford also stay in the play-off places, but the head coach felt the return from the trio of games was below expectations.

“I think we’d have aimed higher than five points even though we’re unbeaten in the three games,” he said.

“The defensive stability looks like it’s nearly there and I thought we were unfortunate at Plymouth to concede two, although maybe fortunate not to concede against QPR.

“In the main we look like we’re getting our defensive stability back which can help.

“We just need to have a total performance with that, and also our attacking output.”

Cleverley explained the change in shape at half-time against Rangers.

“I feel we look solid in the back three, especially at home,” he said.

“People think that playing 4-3-3 is a more attacking system but a lot of the time you only attack with the wingers and the striker.

“With our 3-4-3 we consistently attack with five players and I just felt the individual qualities of Baah and Vata could maybe break the deadlock in the second half.

“We looked like doing it, we just didn’t have that final bit.

“I thought the subs brought us fresh impetus and it was good to see Jeremy Ngakia back in action.

“We felt like if it went on for five or 10 minutes more then we were the team that looked like winning.”

Ultimately, the draw means Watford have still not lost a home game under Cleverley.

“It’s a record I’m really proud of and it’s a connection with our supporters that we’ve managed to build,” he said.

“We have preserved that record today when it looked at times like it could go the wrong way.”