Only the top four are showing the required consistency
Outside of the four teams pulling clear at the top of the Championship, there is not a great deal of consistency in the division.
Watford have been blighted by it, but the likes of Blackburn, West Brom and Middlesbrough have also dropped surprise points too.
“I take a little bit of relief from there being four consistent teams in the league and then the other 20 aren’t,” said Tom Cleverley.
“I’m not alone in making the comments I made after Tuesday’s games, because the rest of the teams can win one and lose one.
“It’s about who can be a little more consistent than the others from now on, and that’s our challenge.
“It is a very, very close league, and the problem with our recent form is we have allowed the pack behind us to catch up.
“We haven’t lost any ground on the play-off places but the rest of pack has compressed.
“All we can focus on is ourselves, in the next game, and performing to the best of our abilities.
“Let’s really narrow our targets to the short term again, because I feel like we were getting a little bit carried away with the play-off race.
“Let’s focus on the next game and being the possible version of ourselves we can.”
There are many things a coach can help a player with, but being a consistent performer is one of the trickier ones.
“Inconsistency is not an easy thing to deal with as a coach, but I keep referring to the basics,” said Cleverley.
“Thing is, I can keep saying that until I’m blue in the face: I need to see more actions than talk.
“But we aren’t the only club that suffers from inconsistency.
“I only made one change to the team in the space of three days and saw two such contrasting performances, and that’s frustrating.
“We were really poor away from home and now we’ve lost two of our last six. Now the home form has gone.
“There are inconsistencies in many aspects, but all we can do is work hard to be more consistent.”
Tuesday night’s performance drew criticism from head coach and fans alike, and Cleverley feel his players should be able to take it.
“It’s a lot easier to deal with criticism from a strong position,” he said.
“I feel like individually and collectively they can deal with this criticism now from a strongish position.
“Whether it’s Bayo with 10 goals, Edo with seven goals, Pollock has had a great season – there are a lot of individuals that can take this criticism on the chin and with broad shoulders because they are in strong positions.
“We have to deal with it, I have to deal with it, and we have to respond on Saturday.”
