Preview: TC On Consistency & Coventry

Tom Cleverley expects a response from his players when they make the trip to Coventry City on Saturday (January 25, 3pm KO).

The Hornets have lost back-to-back league games just twice this season, showing the side’s ability to bounce back after defeat in light of Tuesday's loss against Preston.

Saturday’s meeting in the Midlands comes after a 1-1 draw between the two sides at The Vic in September, with the Head Coach expecting another stern challenge against a side that he is surprised to see down in 13th.

On Coventry, he said: “I never expected them to be where they were. They have got such quality in their squad, and at this level they have got some real top players.

“We saw that [at Vicarage Road] - they were unlucky against us earlier in the season. They have suffered a bit of bad luck, [which explains] why they are not higher in the league.

“They have got this funny habit of starting [the season] quite slowly and then coming with a real charge. What I do know is that they have got some quality players, and we are going to have to be highly focused.

“They are one of the very few clubs that are playing with a front two at the minute, which is something our defenders won’t have to come up against too much.

“Since going to three at the back, they have had some really good results, so it is a strong test for us.

“We have usually responded well to poor performances and I expect the same.”

The Sky Blues are currently six points worse off than Watford, who sit in eighth and are one point off the play-off places, but the fact that both sides have lost 11 times in the league shines a light on Championship teams' lack of consistency. 

The gap of 10 points between Sunderland in fourth and Middlesbrough in fifth is the same as the points difference separating Boro and Preston North End in 16th.

Although Cleverley is somewhat encouraged by this trend, he wants his team to only pay attention to what they can affect. 

“We can take a little bit of relief out of the fact that there are four consistent teams in the league, and then the other 20 aren’t,” the Head Coach said.

“I am not alone in the fact that the rest of the teams can win one, then lose one, so it is about who can be a little bit more consistent than the others from now on in.

“That is our challenge - it is a very, very close league now.

“All we can focus on is ourselves, in the next game, performing to the best that we can.

“Let’s really narrow our targets to short term again because I feel like we were getting a little bit carried away with the play-off race. Let’s just focus on the next game, and be the best possible version of ourselves.”

The clash will see Cleverley go up against Frank Lampard, his former international team-mate who he played with six times for England.

“There are quite a few of my ex-team-mates managing in the Championship,” Cleverley said. “It seems like every four or five games, I am coming up against one!

“I only played a handful of games with Frank - [he was an] excellent, excellent football player.

“[He had an] unbelievable eye for scoring a goal from midfield. I am sure he is feeding a lot of that down to his midfielders.

“[He is] a classy guy who likes to play football in the right way, so a classy footballer and a classy coach.”