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Baah is so explosive, while Vata could be a No.9 says Cleverley
Kwadwo Baah is one of those players who, when they get the ball, makes supporters stand up and generates a sense of excitement.
It is hard to believe the 21-year-old has been with the club since the summer of 2021 but before this season had not kicked a ball for Watford in a competitive game.
Twenty appearances and three goals later, Baah is rapidly becoming one of the Hornets’ greatest attacking threats as his assist for Rocco Vata’s equaliser on Wednesday night showed.
“One v one he is an exceptional player,” said Tom Cleverley.
“He’s explosive and he gets people off their seats, the type of player you’d buy a ticket to watch.
“He has an outstanding super-strength when he is one v one with defenders.
“I feel his best actions come when he is isolated against a defender and normally that is down the outside of the pitch.
“In our structure we try to get him in those areas and scenarios as much as we can because he is devastating in that position.
“We have a lot of exciting forward players and it’s my job to try and find the balance to fit as many of them in the team as possible for each game.”
After the draw at Hull on Wednesday, Cleverley intimated that Vata, another of the club’s young and exciting players, could also be deployed as a No.9.
“He’d have to improve his back-to-goal work but he’s certainly got brilliant movement, he’s quick and he’s a fantastic finisher,” said the Watford boss.
“He’s got a lot of attributes that could lend themselves to playing that position.
“He’s a young exciting player, and someone I look forward to working with and progressing, but as I said with Baah six weeks ago, let’s now not expect Vata to be scoring two or three goals every week.”
Even the consideration of Vata as a No.9 suggests Cleverley is not allied to only ever playing big strikers who can dominate in the air.
“People see football in different ways,” he explained.
“The last coach here saw Sierralta as a No.6 where as I see my No.6s as more technical ball players.
“I don’t think my striker has to be 6ft 4ins and good in the air. There are different ways.
“Vata is a good attacking option for us to have.”
However, what any of the attacking players will have to do is generate greater return on their actions.
The Hornets didn’t register an on-target goal attempt in the first half at Hull, and that followed only one on-target in the first half against QPR and none in the opening 45 minutes against Bristol City.
On Wednesday night, Watford had 56% of the ball in the first half and didn’t force a save.
“The players have to take a little bit of responsibility for that one,” Cleverley admitted.
“There was a lack of quality when we got in and around the box, because I felt like we got there in a very controlled and classy way a lot of the time.
“It was just that last bit was missing, which we’ve not been guilty of too many times this season.
“We had our really explosive players come on but that can sometimes create a little bit of an unbalanced and stretched look to our side.
“I felt like it was good timing to have a go at the last half an hour.”
