Cleverley eager for first away clean sheet since April
If the first part of the final score tomorrow night reads ‘Cardiff 0’ then Tom Cleverley will be a happy man.
The Watford boss used the break from league fixtures to reconcile and reflect upon what had happened in the first 25 Championship games.
The 12 away matches so far have seen Watford ship 26 goals, and they have not managed to stop a home side scoring since they drew 0-0 at Ipswich in April.
That’s 21 hours of Championship away games during which the Hornets have not kept a clean sheet.
“This break has given me a bit of thinking time and allowed for reflection,” said Cleverley.
“Obviously the defensive record is something we need to improve. I think in my first 14 games as head coach we had eight clean sheets, but that has dropped to four in the next 24.
“There’s been a number of reasons for that which we’ve highlighted, and we have to improve on them.
“I’d like to start with a solid foundation to improve our away form.”
That doesn’t mean the Hornets will be taking their bus onto the pitch and leaving it in front of the goal at Cardiff, but Cleverley does want his players to pay more attention to stopping goals going in.
“I don’t want to approach the game with a negative mindset but there has to be a resilient mindset, and sometimes that isn’t always free-flowing football and focussing on how we’re going to score,” he said.
“As a staff we’ve had to look at ourselves and the kind of words we use, the drills we do, everything.
“The focus has to be on becoming more resilient defensively.”
So, leaving Cardiff with a clean sheet is a key target for tomorrow night?
“Yep, that would mean a really, really pleasing night for me,” Cleverley answered.
“I think we’ve played 29 games this season and scored in 24 of them, so that’s not the issue for me.
“I would be very, very pleased with a clean sheet.
“As a team have I taken the focus away from the importance of clean sheets a little bit?
“I’ve gone through a big reflection process of myself.
“The players still have to take some responsibility for the drop of form in a couple of key areas though.
“Obviously losing your captain and player of the season has an impact too, but I feel like we still have the players in the building that we should be doing a lot better.
“Clean sheets are a big focus.”
Preparations for the game had to be altered slightly due to the cold snap.
“We’ve spent a couple of days in the dome,” Cleverley explained.
“It’s not ideal because of the surface but it’s good that we have it at times like this where the freeze is really getting into the training pitches.
“It’s a bit milder today so we’ll be able to get outside.
“We’ve trained as normal just in the dome though.”
It’s only a little more than a fortnight since Cardiff ended Watford’s unbeaten home record, since when they have picked up draws against Coventry and Middlesbrough before winning at Sheffield United in the FA Cup.
“Cardiff seem to have been a little bit more direct recently and had some good results from that,” said Cleverley.
“You can see they are all working hard for Omer, and they are dangerous on the counter attack.
“We have to be ready for the challenge they will pose.”
Nearly six years ago, Watford went to Cardiff for a Premier League game on a Friday night and romped to a 5-1 win away win – Gerard Deulofeu scored a hat-trick and Troy Deeney nabbed the other two.
“We were in an exceptional moment as a club and as a team at that point,” said Cleverley, who was a substitute that night.
“Deulofeu and Deeney were devastating and I came on for a 10-minute cameo at the end.
“Great win – but give me a 1-0 any day of the week.”
