Tom Cleverley spoke to the media ahead of Watford’s Sky Bet Championship clash against Leeds United on Friday (March 29, 8pm KO), his first game at Vicarage Road as the club's Interim Head Coach.
The new Hornets boss spoke about the international break, the challenge of facing the league leaders and more.
Read what he had to say below...
On how he found the international break:
Valuable time with the players to sum it up in one sentence. It’s been a good opportunity for us as staff to get over our principles, and how we see the game played, and doing all that without the pressure of an upcoming game.
We have really been able to take our time with things, and get some meetings in, it has been a really valuable and enjoyable time.
On the impact of players being away on international duty:
It is good for us that our players come back in good spirits [Giorgi Chakvetadze and Ismaël Koné qualified for major tournaments] and they can gain more confidence.
Yáser [Asprilla] scored as well last night, so I’m always pleased to see our players doing well on the international stage.
Every club gets affected by this, and we’re no different.
On how pleased he has been with the application of the players who have been training:
I can’t have one complaint about the work rate, desire, and hard work of the group of players that have been left behind.
It has made it very enjoyable, and it has made our job easier. I think we’ve delivered about as much information as we can without bombarding it, and I’ve had some surprises from players who I didn’t play with as a player.
On the importance of the win against Birmingham:
Three points in the Birmingham game was key. One for our league position and two for a little bit of belief back. Three, we learnt a great deal about our players.
To learn so much and pick up three points in the process was a massive positive. There will be some tweaks to that and we hope to see a much more controlled and efficient performance against Leeds.
The reception at Birmingham was a little bit special. When I retired as a player you think "will I get those moments back?" and to get it only 10 months after retirement, I feel very lucky.
The whole club had a sigh of relief because if we had lost that game we would have been looking over our shoulders.
Now the shackles are off a little bit, we can play with a freedom and look forward to the next game, and look forward to the challenge of playing these top sides in the division, rather than approaching it with a sense of nervousness.
On the Leeds United test:
They are the current league leaders, that doesn’t mean there is a sense of inferiority from us at all, that’s the way I was as a player, and that’s the way I will be as a coach, and we will do everything we can to win the game.
They are doing brilliantly well, it’s a massive football club with a very successful manager in this league. We have to respect the challenge ahead. We’ve put a lot of work into being prepared for it and I’m sure it will be a special evening under the lights on Good Friday.
On the importance of the Rookery End:
You feel it as a player, I can speak from experience. You certainly feel it as a player kicking towards that end. I’ve had some special moments down that end, but I’ll always think it is my job to make sure the players are the catalyst.
We shouldn’t be waiting for our fans to kickstart us into a performance, we will be the catalyst on Friday night, and that starts from minute one.
On taking a moment to soak in his first home game in charge of Watford:
It’s going to be difficult. There is so much going on in the modern day game, from a technical point of view, tactical point of view.
I think the application of the players is what ultimately wins you games at this level, but there is so much going on from a technical point of view.
I’m sure it will be special but I can’t let my focus get too far away from how we win the game. I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy it until at full-time when that whistle goes.
On needing to improve home form:
We need to change the narrative, we need to change the atmosphere and I think a new coach helps do that. I think it helps that we are playing one of the teams the fans can really get excited about performing against.
I’ve no doubt Friday will be a great atmosphere and hopefully there’s a performance to go with it. We’ve got a special set of fans and sometimes they drag us through.
There’s been a few special games in my time here, the Liverpool one, the Manchester United one, Lloyd Doyley against QPR! A lot of the best moments of my football career have come under the lights at The Vic and let’s hope Friday is another one.
