'We didn’t have a referee that understood the game well enough today'
There were no excuses offered by Tom Cleverley for Vakoun Bayo’s actions that led to his red card – but the head coach was furious about the performance of referee Lewis Smith.
The official made a series of questionable decisions, including booking Cleverley, who didn’t hold back in his post-game assessment.
“I can’t justify Bayo’s reaction, and he knows that he’s let his teammates down,” said the Watford boss.
“He’s pushed Marcondes with the palm of his hand in his chest, and it’s a disappointing reaction from Marcondes.
“I think if you counted the number of times he threw himself to the floor today I think you’d have a decent tally.
“Unfortunately the referee has been played.
“I thought Norwich were good at the dark arts today. Every time someone made contact with one of their players, they threw themselves to the ground.
“We just didn’t have an experienced enough referee to understand that.
“I’m disappointed, first that their players are throwing themselves to the ground and second that we didn’t have a referee that understood the game well enough today.”
The official waved away very strong Watford penalty appeals at the end of the first half when Giorgi Chakvetadze went down under a challenge from Norwich keeper Angue Gunn.
“For me, that one is a 50/50,” admitted Cleverley.
“I’m always honest. I am absolutely fuming with the red card but the penalty is a 50/50 for me.
“He’s come out in a very high-velocity way, and it’s really close who makes the first contact.
“Gunn’s reaction – pretending he’s hurt – tells you all you need to know.
“Gunn charges out, there’s contact with Giorgi, he kids on that he’s hurt and you’re thinking he looks a bit guilty.”
There were penalty shouts late in the game too, when Tom Ince went down in the area, but Cleverley was clear that there was no cause for complaint on that one.
“I’ve not seen that one back, but I saw Incey’s reaction, and you can tell by a player’s reaction,” he explained.
“Incey beats the ground, he knows he’s slipped at a key moment. It’s not a penalty.”
After being reduced to 10 men for an hour or more, Watford responded well and pushed hard for an equaliser in the second half.
“I’m proud of my players today,” said Cleverley.
“We’ve reduced them to very little with the work-rate, the togetherness, the spirit, and our technical play I thought was excellent for the hour that we were down to 10 men.
“That is sustainable, long term.
“Sadly, people won’t be talking about my team’s performance and you people won’t be writing too much about it because there was another star of the show today.”
