'When we’re playing towards the Rookery we want to put our foot on the gas'
When Watford are attacking the Rookery End in the second half of games, Tom Cleverley wants his side to keep their foot on the gas.
A goal up against West Brom on Sunday, the Hornets were told to go out and try and get another rather than protect what they had.
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“This is our home and when we’re playing towards the Rookery we always want to put our foot on the gas and not just defend a 1-0 lead,” said the Watford boss.
“I thought that mentality did us well in the second half.
“We showed real quality and we were very unfortunate not to go 3-0 up and the game being well and truly out of their sight.
“I was really pleased with how at 1-0 we didn’t sit back and try and defend our lead.
“They are a good team and we had to suffer a bit of pressure towards the end but I thought we did that well.
“You had Yasser Larouci playing with his finger facing in what direction I don’t know at the end, and that just showed the heart and desire we had to see the game out.”
The Hornets have worked on how they make sure leads aren’t thrown away.
“I said after the Bristol City game that we did a big piece of work on why we weren’t seeing games out as well as we should be,” Cleverley explained.
“Against Oxford and Blackburn we didn’t get punished for it, but the warning signs were there that we were conceding chances late in games.
“So we did a big piece of work on how to see games out better, and I think that came to life in the win over Bristol City and then again today.”
Does Cleverley feel tense when his side are only one goal up in the closing stages of a game?
“In the past yes, but since we’ve gone through the work on seeing out games I feel a little bit more relaxed,” he replied.
“We have a certain set of principles we’re going to play by if it is an ‘all hands to the pumps’ last 10 minutes.
“That is going to help us see out games better than we did against Blackburn and Oxford.”
