'Freak mistakes' - Watford boss Tom Cleverley disagrees with Leeds United's Daniel Farke after defeat
Watford boss Tom Cleverley says his side dominated 55 minutes of their 2-1 defeat at the hands of 'top team' Leeds United.
The Hornets have struggled on the road so far this season having not won an away game since the opening day of the campaign, but even despite going 2-0 down inside the opening seven minutes they gave their Elland Road hosts a real game.
A goal inside the opening 90 seconds of the second half brought Watford back into it and though Leeds had chances to kill the game as a contest, it ended without further scoring.
Cleverley was left to rue the 'freak' errors from his goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann that gifted Leeds a two-goal cushion early on. Bachmann fumbled Largie Ramazani's shot over the line and then parried a cross straight to Brenden Aaronson who fired in the second.
"Nothing to do with his fitness those ones, just two freak mistakes you don't normally see from Dan," said Cleverley. "He's one of the best shotstoppers in the league, he's won us a lot more points than he's lost us but he didn't have his best evening. You worry a little bit on the side, it's a big character test for my team. We handled it excellently, we didn't let Dan's mistakes cloud how we wanted to play.
"It stands us in good stead moving forward and now it's all about consistency. We do need to address the away form but tonight was a step in the right direction with the performance. We said to run, win your duels, be good at set-pieces - how we've not scored from a set-piece tonight I'm not sure, second balls, game management, they were all there tonight. Every good performance coincides with us doing the basics."
What did Daniel Farke think?
Cleverley saw the game differently to his opposite number, Daniel Farke. The Leeds boss suggested that bar a difficult 10 to 15 minute period in the second half his team kept Watford from creating and played on the front foot. Cleverely said: "From minute 15 to 70 we totally dominated the game. Credit to Leeds, even when they're not at the best they know how to win. That's the sign of a top team. I thought we showed fantastic personality with the ball. All the things we work on and have done so well were there, we just gave ourselves too much to do after seven minutes."