Taken in isolation, yesterday’s 2-1 home loss to Sheffield United was a spirited, often impressive performance that just fell short of earning some reward.

Fresh ideas from the head coach, players stepping up to the challenge, and a dominant last 25 minutes which on another day might have brought forth the equaliser that Watford probably deserved.

As Blades boss Chris Wilder pointed out afterwards, for his side it was the sort of gutsy mid-winter away win that you might look back on in May and realise it was a key victory.

If there is an ‘acceptable’ face of home defeat, this was it.

However, while football fixtures, results and performances in any given season can be judged on their own, they will always form part of a bigger picture – and this was a third consecutive defeat, a second straight loss at home and pushed Watford to their lowest league position of the season.

What must be said though, for necessary balance, is that this lowest league position is ninth and the Hornets remain three points outside the play-off places with a game in hand.

It was also a significant step forward from what we saw against Cardiff and QPR, but it must also be viewed in the context that United were so short of players they had two goalkeepers and a clutch of youngsters on the bench.

Wilder described his side as being “down to the bones” – as things stands, the bones of a team surely destined to finish no worse than fourth this season are better than Watford’s meat.

It was a point Tom Cleverley made after the game, expressing his view that there is a significant gulf between the current top four, and the other 20 teams in the Championship.

The Watford head coach has been pivotal in the team over-achieving this season.

While the pundits and podcasters who tipped the Hornets for relegation were laughably wide of the mark, anyone outside of London Colney who thought a serious bid for the play-offs was likely back in August might also have had a bit too much sun.

That bid for the top six is likely to live or die upon what sort of support Cleverley is given by those above him during the current January transfer window.

We can all argue what our own priorities would be when it comes to signing players, but surely there is no debate that the Watford squad, as it is now, will not be involved in the play-offs come May?

It wouldn’t take a massive rebuild to ensure the Hornets can still be a top-six contender, but if the club do not listen to their young, progressive manager with an abundance of experience of the game at this level and higher when it comes to transfers this month, then any blame for falling away – as has been the case after the last two January windows – will start at their doors.

Cleverley inherited a team that was in freefall in March, quickly steadied the ship, plugged a leaky defence and started to build some unity.

During the summer he continued that work and, while the players brought in have had mixed levels of success, we all know that transfers are not something head coaches of Watford are often given too much control of.

That Cleverley stuck his neck out to bring in Daniel Jebbison will always be a millstone for him, but the head coach has also nurtured Rocco Vata, reignited Giorgi Chakvetadze, turned Kwadwo Baah from a perennial loanee into a must-pick, and helped Matte Pollock become the defensive lynchpin and future captain that Watford never seemed to have.

To see comments on the Watford Observer website and social media that ‘time has to be up for Cleverley’ or that he has ‘gone as far as he can’ are, quite frankly, utterly ludicrous.

One wonders how many who decided to post such banal drivel were also among those that regularly chastised the owner for turning the club into a laughing-stock with his bi-annual changes of head coach in recent years?

If the misery of the last few seasons have shown us anything it all, it is that continually changing head coach makes very little difference if (a) they are all working with an equally limited set of players and (b) when the chance comes to help, the signings are what the club think they need rather than what actually do need.

Unlike every other full-time predecessor under the Pozzo ownership, Cleverley did not need a crash course in Watford, the club, its history, its place in English football, the town or anything else.

He is about as Watford as someone not born and raised in Watford can get, and he is definitely here for the good of the club, its future and its development, on and off the pitch.

So as we sit in the midst of a poor run, the bigger picture must fill as much of our minds as recent results do.

There has been progress, players have improved, the connection between the stands and the pitch has returned.

A couple of national newspaper journalists after the game yesterday were incredulous at questions around Watford facing a problem, and the play-offs disappearing out of sight.

“But Watford are only three points behind the top six,” said one.

“Have people forgotten how bad Watford were for the last three seasons?” asked another.

Naturally, when you are close to your club and watch their every move then every bump is felt more – but it was interesting to hear the assessment of those who look on from a distance but also see a lot of Championship football.

Of course, as well as what he is allowed to do in January, Cleverley has other issues to deal with.

Moussa Sissoko was left out yesterday and few would argue with that, but the need for the Frenchman to be given a longer rest will depend on there being someone else that can partner the continuing second coming of Imran Louza.

• Cleverley shares his thoughts on Bachmann

• Watford were 'more than good value for a point'

Vakoun Bayo was dropped and Cleverley paired Baah and Vata up front, a move not totally without success and one which might have been more fruitful against a less well-drilled and competent defence.

However, when the Hornets adopted a more direct approach in the second half, the lack of a No.9 who can dominate the ball, be the outlet and link up play was still evident.

The answer to that problem is highly unlikely to be Daniel Jebbison, who once again wasn’t on the bench yesterday.

That his loan has been disastrous is bad enough, but when you start making ill-judged social media posts in the aftermath of a defeat it’s hardly going to encourage anyone – head coach, teammates or supporters – to cut you some more slack.

We await the outcome of a request for comment from the club in relation to Jebbison’s Instagram remarks, later deleted, on the Sheffield United official account and that of winning goalscorer Andre Brooks.

The injury to Daniel Bachmann right at the end of the game looked a bad one, and for anyone who posted anything akin to hoping it was a career-ending problem then look away now.

That is sick, and indefensible.

Not thinking a player is very good, feeling he shouldn’t be in the team and even hoping he might go somewhere else is all fair game. That’s football, a sport of opinions, even extreme ones.

And while being aware that the keeper made some sort of hand gesture towards the Rookery End on a day when the club recognised a manager who would not have tolerated that sort of behaviour, it’s also worth bearing in mind that Graham Taylor would have been equally scathing of any ‘fan’ wishing such ill on one of their own players.

Bachmann’s two attempted Cruyff turns inside his own penalty area yesterday were ridiculous, and he was fortunate not to have been left massively embarrassed the second time when the incoming Callum O’Hare’s challenge sent the ball trickling just wide of the goal.

Even in light of his later injury, Bachmann’s performance and decision making was still something that Cleverley had to be asked about after the game, and this writer has challenged the head coach more than once recently on his selection of Bachmann and one or two others when their form suggests a little spell out of the spotlight might be called for.

Judging by the words coming out from the medics last night, Bachmann will now be forced to spend time out of the team anyway – but hopefully he makes a speedy return to fitness, regains his confidence and gets back to playing regularly, form permitting.

Indeed, had Bachmann not been alertly off his line to block when Brooks was played in by Gustavo Hamer then Watford would have conceded another goal inside 10 minutes yesterday.

It was a short reprieve though as the defence decided to deliver their own individual interpretations of a line, and O’Hare took the chance to slide in Hamer for the opening goal.

The Watford response was swift and impressive.

Baah received the ball out on the right and, faced with a couple of defenders, a customary bid to attack the by-line might have been expected.

Instead he played a delicious little pass into the path of the accelerating Ryan Andrews, and he squared for his fellow wing-back Jeremy Ngakia to equalise.

Ngakia is one of those that has been the target of much criticism, though often it has been because he was given a new contract the length of which, for a player with a history of injury problems, appeared unfeasibly long.

Another injury at the start of this season didn’t help his cause, but in recent games when many around him have been worthy of criticism, Ngakia has been solid and sound.

He is possibly the most defensively able of the wing-back options, but his goal yesterday also showed great positional awareness and his ability to operate down both flanks make Ngakia a more useful member of the squad than many give him credit for.

United’s second goal was, once again, frustrating in that Watford switched off, just as they had at QPR.

Letting an opponent take a quick free kick just outside your box is a cardinal sin – other teams appear to have plenty of players with the nous, as Cleverley described it, to stand on the ball, nudge it away, take an age to give it back.

It might bring about a booking, but that is better than conceding a goal.

Notwithstanding the Hornets shortcomings in that moment, nothing can be taken away from the quality of Brooks’ finish, a crisp, curling effort from about 20 yards that nestled in the bottom corner.

From that point on, Watford pretty much ran the show, helped by Wilder having go to his threadbare bench as the clock ticked down.

The best chance fell to Chakvetadze, who was in the right place to run onto another fine square ball from Baah but saw his shot blocked by a combination of defender Anel Ahmedhodzic and keeper Michael Cooper.

Vata was denied by Cooper at the near post, before referee David Webb followed the recent trend of officials who conjure up at least one baffling decision a game.

The ball struck the outstretched arm of Jack Robinson in the box, that cannot be open to any question.

Had it not done so, it would have carried through to Sissoko and given him a chance on goal.

An outstretched arm is not a natural position, and so ball hits arm in unnatural position denying a goalscoring chance – penalty, no?

That’s what Mr Webb said, no. Seemingly he felt the fact the ball had been headed onto Robinson’s arm by a teammate from only a couple of yards was reason enough not to point to the spot.

Surely the wrong decision, though having benefitted from a similar toss-of-a-coin interpretation from the officials against Portsmouth, it’s hard to be too angry but certainly fair to feel aggrieved.

It was a defeat against one of the best four teams in the division, and a game that could quite easily have ended in a draw.

But it means Watford now face Premier League opposition in a bid to avoid suffering a fourth loss in a row, before two tricky away trips to teams who need the points at the other end of the table.

We’ve seen progress this season, we’ve seen player development and we’ve seen results that, in the main, have been better than expected.

What we haven’t seen is any reason for anything other than leaving Cleverley to attempt to deliver more of the same, and actually build foundations that go beyond one season.

The very man whose unrivalled achievements we celebrated again yesterday finished 18th in his first season at this level.

He was the same age then as Cleverley is now. Imagine if Elton had decided he knew better in 1980 . . .