Cleverley: "Everyone's Fighting & Sacrificing"

Tom Cleverley identified the character shown by his players as the key factor in Watford’s first away win in seven league attempts.

Goals from Imrân Louza and Edo Kayembe secured a 2-0 victory at Derby County but the Head Coach felt every member of his team played their part.

Read on for Cleverley’s thoughts…

On an important clean sheet:

“We showed really good character to come and get our first away clean sheet of the season and that’s what I’m most delighted with.

“The players worked extremely hard, especially our two wide men - Vata and Baah - who have really improved in that department and are becoming more complete and mature players because of that.

“That helped us to be solid today. We had to defend our box well at the end of the game and I’m doubly happy for Jonathan Bond, who has been patient and came in and has been as reliable as ever. A lot of people deserved that clean sheet today.

“I saw a team who were really willing to sacrifice for the club, for each other, and it was a really top performance.”

On Abankwah’s debut:

“That was a proper Championship tackle after 30 seconds - it didn’t take him long!

“I thought it was a great challenge and then he got booked and he’s walking a tightrope but I was really impressed with how calm he was with the ball.

“He’s a defender who likes to defend, he’s got that urgency and a defensive mindset.

“He’s a very mature lad, he's got a fantastic attitude, he wanted to learn from minute one of getting over here and I had absolutely no reservations about putting him straight in.

“The reason you can move to a four is when you’ve got full-backs who really value their defensive work and with Ngakia and Abankwah today, it felt like a good balance.”

On victory kickstarting some improved away form:

“We’d all like to think so. We prepare our minds to improve away from home but me and Paul [Warne] were speaking before the game and it seems like a league-wide thing.

“We’ve got three away wins now this season but that probably puts us in the top half of away form! 

“I don’t know if that’s a fact but it seems like a very imbalanced league when it comes to home and away form.”

On showing togetherness:

“It’s a representation of what we’ve managed to build here and that is that everyone’s together, through thick and thin, through setbacks that we’ve had.

“In the past I’ve been part of a squad here that has been going off in groups, a bit like a firework, but now you can see everyone’s out there fighting and sacrificing – players, staff and fans.

“Now we’re only one point off fifth and it’s starting to look up.”