Cleverley ready to help Jebbison both technically and mentally
Tom Cleverley says he will be trying personally to help Daniel Jebbison, whether that be technically or mentally.
The striker’s loan from Bournemouth was already looking like a bit of a car crash before he failed to convert Watford’s best chance of the second against Cardiff yesterday, not getting a strong enough contact on the ball and consequently heading wide from inside the six-yard box.
The 21-year-old has now played 348 minutes of Championship football across 12 appearances and has not scored or assisted in a goal.
However, his miss in front of the Rookery End yesterday ultimately cost Watford a point and ended their unbeaten home run, and while Cleverley clearly retains faith in the player he also knows he has a job on his hands to pick Jebbison up off the floor.
“It’s really where I have to step up now, as he’s a player who has lost confidence in front of goal at the minute,” said the head coach.
“I’ve gone through periods in my career where a loss of confidence has been the case for me and so I can try and help him through this.
“His all-round performance the other day against Portsmouth was strong and I thought he would take confidence from that, but today he’s not had his best day at the office.
“I’m here to help him and get the best out of him. I enjoy that individual development part of the job, whether that’s on the pitch technically or away from the pitch trying to manage his mental state.”
The display against Portsmouth did offer signs of encouragement for Jebbison – so, was putting him back on the bench a few days later likely to dent any confidence he had gained?
“The reason Jebbison played on Boxing Day was a rotational thing, as it’s impossible for me to ask Bayo to play all five games in the Christmas/New Year period and so Jebbison came in,” Cleverley explained.
“I didn’t think Bayo had done enough wrong to sit out this game, and so that was the reason he came back in.
“Jebbo knows that was the case and today was his chance to come on for 35 minutes and try and secure the shirt for Wednesday.
“Whether he did that I’m not sure.”
Having already played for both Bournemouth and Watford this season, Jebbison cannot play anywhere else.
It’s unlikely his parent club would require his services in the New Year, so the emphasis will be on trying to turn things around at Vicarage Road.
“I’m hoping that the last four months are the part of the loan that everyone remembers,” said Cleverley.
“This is the business end of the season, and I’ve seen plenty of loans or just individual players have a great end to the season, and everyone says they’ve had a great season because their last three months have been good.
“That’s what we all have to work towards.
“The first five months have not been how we all planned, and days like today where he misses a good chance are not going to help.
“I like this part of the job, because I am here to help develop and improve, and so I am determined to do so.”
It wasn’t just Jebbison who meant Cardiff keeper Ben Alnwick did not need to make a single save yesterday – the whole group of Watford players mustered a paltry nine goal attempts, and the only one on target was Giorgi Chakvetadze’s equaliser.
And that was with the Hornets enjoying a whopping 73% possession across the 90 minutes.
“I’m not obsessed by possession stats. I think you can be very effective even if you only have 27% of the ball depending on what type of game it is,” said the Watford boss.
“But today our desire to get in the box, that killer instinct or the calm head to create at the right time wasn’t there.
“As a staff, we’ll look it to see if we’re giving ourselves the best chance to create and score.
“I’ve said before that sometimes going into a back four can be seen as a positive move but you genuinely do attack with less numbers compared to when you’re playing with a three.
“It’s easier to get five in the top line when you’re playing with three at the back.
“I think we suffered for that today.”
