Midfielder will be out of action for two months
Just as Tom Dele-Bashiru’s return to fitness increases the midfield options, so Watford will be without the services of Pierre Dwomoh until March.
The young Belgian limped off during the first half of Thursday’s FA Cup defeat at Fulham, and will now have a spell on the sidelines.
“Unfortunately he’ll be about for two months,” said Tom Cleverley.
“It’s a thigh injury, very similar to the one I did actually.
“Fortunately he’s a lot younger and more able to recover from it than me, and it’s his non-kicking leg, if that makes sense.
“We won’t see him for a couple of months though.”
Dwomoh took to social media on Saturday, revealing the extent of his injury in a TikTok Live.
That came only a few days after former loanee Daniel Jebbison made ill-advised Instagram posts in the wake of the defeat to Sheffield United.
“It’s learning curves for the players, and Pierre’s was a lot less malicious obviously as he’s only given an injury update where Jebbison’s was disappointing,” Cleverley commented.
“But we have spoken to Pierre as there is a certain process of revealing information that we go through.
“This time the injury didn’t need protecting but in the future the player may need protecting and that information might need revealing in a more professional way.”
Other than Dwomoh, the injury news is generally positive
“Tom has rejoined the squad, and Kevin Keben is progressing in that direction,” said the head coach.
“Dan Bachmann’s surgery went very well and we have no other issues.”
The game at Fulham was a chance for some of the squad players to get minutes on the pitch.
Cleverley had described it as “an audition” for them, so did any of them do enough to get speaking parts in future performances?
“It was a mixed bag really,” said the Watford boss.
“I thought Tikvic was excellent until obviously he made a very punishing mistake which changed the game, so that’s a great learning curve for him.
“That’s where he needs to develop because we all know his qualities on the ball and he’s got a good physique, but he has got that lapse of concentration that can happen.
“With Tikvic we’ll all sit down and see where his best development plan will be.
“I thought Mamadou did well. He is someone we can certainly rely on if anything happens to Bayo.
“So there were some positive performances but I think some people have to develop over the next few months elsewhere.”
It was a game where, yet again, Watford conceded a goal early in one of the two halves.
“It’s a really difficult one for me, because it was a pass I’ve seen Tikvic make a million times in training – play it to Kayembe’s right side so he can just bounce out and we relieve pressure,” Cleverley pointed out.
“I felt like we were going more direct but the ball was just keeping coming back.
“I’m glad the players took it upon themselves to try and play out, and the pass from Tikvic is one you’d expect him to make 100 times out of 100.
“Why he’s played it the wrong side of Kayembe, who has then lost possession, and it’s resulted in what it did – I can’t tell you.
“All I can do is try and refocus the players at half-time, and also at the start of games.”
