Defender James Abankwah has signed on loan from Udinese in time to play at Derby, with head coach Tom Cleverley vowing never to return to the tactics he deployed at Cardiff on Tuesday night.

Abankwah, who can play on the right side of a flat back four or as one of three centre-halves, has joined for the remainder of the season, and is eligible to be involved at Pride Park on Saturday.

With Tom Dele-Bashiru now fully fit and also under consideration for a start, Tom Cleverley has more options – though there will be late checks on a couple of players, including Imran Louza.

“We’ve got a couple that we’ll have to assess close to kick-off, and Imran is one of them,” said Cleverley.

“He’s been playing with a strapping on at the minute and I’ve had that sort of niggle in the knee, but we’re hoping he’ll get more recovery time in the next 48 hours and he’ll be completely fine.

“Apart from that, there are no new concerns.”

With Abankwah in the squad, the head coach now can more readily move between a flat back four and three in defence.

“James has a really good profile for being able to defend in a four, and he brings us speed and physicality,” said Cleverley.

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“I can see after two days that he values the art of defending, and he has the profile to allow us to flirt between three and four.

“He’s a very promising player to add to the squad, and hopefully him and a couple more will be that fresh injection we need.

“He has been impressive in his first two days of training.

“It was a signing we were completely aligned on. It’s not a project, we identified him as a player that is the perfect profile for what we’re missing.

“The Udinese manager actually was quite desperate to keep him but we feel like he can add more value to us.

“I’m pleased he has come and joined us.”

The Italian side rate Abankwah highly enough to have given him a new contract that runs to 2029 earlier today.

One thing he isn’t, though, is a player with proven experience of the Championship or a lot of games under his belt generally.

“In a perfect world we want oven-ready Championship footballers that understand the league, and need one training session to meet everyone and then they’re ready to go,” Cleverley admitted.

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“But I did a lot of research into James and his attitude.

“He’s Rocco’s captain at Under-21 level and you can tell he’s a guy who wants to learn and improve, and with an attitude like that then a player is ready to go.”

While the point at Cardiff brought a welcome end to a run of defeats, the approach Watford took made for an ugly spectacle and it was something Cleverley will not try again.

“We’ve had a few have a dip in confidence at the same time but I think it’s important that we don’t let that change the way we approach games,” he said.

“I must say I changed my approach on Tuesday and I’ve spoken to the players about it, and that if I lose belief in how I want to play then we’re in trouble.

“So you won’t see a performance like Tuesday again.

“I felt like I had to adapt because of the starts, because of the goal threat, because of maybe a lack of confidence in possession.

“But it was clear to see that the first half on Tuesday was not how we want to go about it.

“It’s not what will bring us success and we don’t want to compromise what our strengths are.

"It was a wake-up call for us all and moving forward I think it could be a really significant half of football, even allowing for how poor I thought it was.

“I think it really certifies that can’t be our approach and that is not the sort of team I want to be, and how I see us being successful.

“I waited to say that to the players until this morning, which was the next time I had the whole group together.

“We need to get back to what we believe will bring us success and it’s not this low-block counter-attacking team that goes direct.

“I felt like needs must at the time, but with hindsight it wasn’t the right decision.

“I start with myself, so let’s go back to what I believe will bring this team success – and that is our way, and we all have to believe in it.”

One other boost for Cleverley is that Kevin Keben, who has played only one minute of first-team football since signing, is due back in competitive action next week.

“The plan for Kevin  is to play for the Under-21s on Monday with a view to being available for the Coventry game a week on Saturday," explained the head coach.