Watford benefitting from the consistency Ince brings.
Tom Ince has already played more than half the amount of minutes this season that he was on the pitch for in the entirety of the 23/24 campaign.
The 32-year-old was very much on the fringes last term after joining from Reading, but has been much more involved this time round and was one of the bright spots in Tuesday’s defeat at Leeds.
His delivery from set pieces – an area where Watford have struggled for many seasons – was especially impressive at Elland Road.
“We were so unfortunate that we didn’t score from one at Leeds,” Tom Cleverley pointed out.
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“Incey has been fantastic every time he’s played this season, and when I talk about consistency he certainly brings that.
“He has the intelligence to solve problems on the pitch, and technical ability that is a of real high quality.
“He’s a good decision maker and while every team needs its matchwinners and mavericks to make a difference, you can’t afford to have too many because things all go a bit unstructured.
“So a player like Incey brings consistency, good decision making and a lot of quality.
“He’s a good role-model for those exciting young players we have in the squad.
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“Incey is someone that I’m pleased is showing good form and he’ll be a key player moving forward.”
Consistency has been a big issue for Watford, and they will need to improve upon that in order to improve their record of just one clean sheet in the league this season.
On top of that, they have only scored the first goal once in their last nine Championship fixtures.
“Doing the basics consistently well would certainly help towards the clean sheets in terms of competing, winning duels, the art of defending, game management,” said Cleverley.
“The not scoring first is more down to mindset and approach. You can’t afford to pace yourself through a Championship game.
“If you do then can find you’ve left yourself too much to do, and we’ve done that so many times this season.
“When I look at Festy Ebosele, he had to come off late in the game at Leeds because he has muscle cramps.
“When a player has to come off with significant muscle cramps I absolutely don’t mind that because it shows me the player has given absolutely everything he has for that period of time.
“If all the players do that then we will be scoring first more than not.
“That part of the problem would be mindset, but clean sheets is those basics and consistency that I talk about so much.”
