Thelo Aasgaard (8) of Luton Town after the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheff Wednesday and Luton Town at Hillsborough, Sheffield, England on 1 February 2025. Photo by David Horn.
Days like yesterday are why Watford boss became a coach..
When Tom Cleverley faced the media after yesterday’s derby win over Luton, his smile, tone of voice and overall body language made it clear he was as relieved as he was happy that Watford had won the game so well.
The week leading up to such a big game is always tense, with head coaches trying to balance making sure they portray the added significance of a game with the rivals with not overplaying it to the point of applying undue pressure.
On Friday, Cleverley had spoken about how he had worked with his players on getting a result rather than seeking revenge against the Hatters.
Now they had duly obliged, he was cheerfully relaxed and keen to pay tribute to them.
“The week was a little more stressful than others because you don’t like to leave any stone unturned,” said Cleverley.
“You’re trying to portray something to the players that maybe behind closed doors you’re not yourself.
“The players have absolutely nailed the game-plan today and they deserve all the credit.
“I certainly enjoyed that first-half performance, that’s for sure.
“These are the days why, when I was retired from playing, I was so passionate about going into coaching.
“I want to be involved in more days like this.”
“I couldn’t be more pleased with performance”
Watford 2 Luton 0 minute-by-minute report
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Although the defeat at Kenilworth Road earlier in the season was clearly still in the minds of the players and staff, it wasn’t used as a major motivating factor.
“We weren’t obsessed with that game to be honest, even though it hurt us for a long period of time,” the head coach explained.
“By no means were we obsessed with any kind of revenge.
“It was all about us being as consistent as we have the last four games and if we did that, as well as all the competing and the basics, then I feel we’d give ourselves the best chance of winning.
“That was executed brilliantly by the players.”
The players will be off today (Monday) and Cleverley is keen for them to soak up the good feelings from yesterday in order to have the desire to enjoy more of them.
“We’ll have a day off and it’s my first victory as the head coach in the derby, so I want the players to enjoy these moments,” he said,
“If they work hard, we can have a lot more of them.
“I’ll be honest though, in my mind I’m just thinking we’ve got six days to the Stoke game now.
“I’ll enjoy today another time maybe.”
As well as claiming the derby day glory, it also ended a run of five straight home defeats for the Hornets.
“I didn’t really think of that, but it is significant because we went so long unbeaten here and then so many where we were beaten,” Cleverley pointed out.
“Like I said, for me I feel we are in the best and most consistent moment in our season.
