Plan wasn't to sit back more in the second half
Having been so dominant in the first half on Sunday, Tom Cleverley said he and his team did not set out to be more passive or sit on what they had.
The signs the second half might be a little different came when the visitors made three changes during the break.
For Watford’s part, they went back out with the same game-plan as for the first 45 minutes
“It wasn’t a mentality change, and I never like to rest on leads because I think that’s a dangerous mindset,” Cleverley explained.
“I think you should try and continue to play and to push, and then there’s maybe a time limit after which you go a bit more protective.
“It was never that today until the last 10 minutes.
“Our intensity didn’t drop it just felt that in the second half every second ball was falling to them and they tried playing a bit more, and they had some good periods.
“But I thought Selvik and the lads at the back were outstanding in keeping everything at arm’s length.
“They made three changes at half-time which is a big change, and they had a mindset shift with a little bit less to lose and less to protect.
“Teams like that are always dangerous, they’re like a wounded animal.
“We knew we had to manage things more than dominate in the second half which I thought we did excellently.
“We’d really laid a marker down in the first half.”
Watford made a number of substitutions from half-time onwards, with injuries the main reason.
“When you’re the head coach, a player always tells you he’s alright,” said Cleverley.
“I hope the victory hasn’t come at too much of a cost injury wise.
“I think Giorgi has muscle cramps. Kevin was a hamstring tweak, Yaser was a thigh tweak and James has a small ankle sprain.
“All of them could be alright for next Saturday, or none of them.
“We will have to wait to see.”
