Long before he stepped onto the pitch in the 84th minute at the Kassam Stadium, the name of Rocco Vata was echoing around the away corner of the ground.
The Irish Under-21 international forward started four of the five games before he was laid low by a virus, but has now played only 101 minutes of the seven games since he has been back to full health.
Vata scored three and assisted with three more goals in a real purple patch either side of Christmas, and clearly the travelling supporters would have liked to see him earlier than they did in the 1-0 defeat.
“The fans have been absolutely fantastic this season,” said Tom Cleverley.
“I’m a guy who likes to smell and feel an instinct about what the environment needs, but I’ll never be swayed on making a substitute because of singing someone’s name.
“For 35 minutes of the second half I thought we were good.
“I can remember a lot of times they entered our box in the first half, but not very many in the second half – up until the red card.
“So although the quality of chance dipped, and I agree we didn’t have any shots on target in the second half and were a bit toothless, I felt it was always going to come for us.
“If I could have got Rocco on the pitch while we had 11 . . . maybe that’s something I need to look at.
“But it’s a head scratcher how we have lost two out of the last three performing with as much control as we’ve had.”
Did not having a recognised striker on the pitch from the start have an effect on the quality of the chances Watford created?
“I think our best chances came in the first half, so no I don’t think so,” Cleverley replied.
“We had Francisco from the set piece and Moussa’s one v one, and I thought it was the second half where we only had half-chances.
“I wouldn’t go with the narrative of not having a No.9 on the pitch affecting chances at all.
“I think it’s a collective forward unit effort, and collectively we’re not turning half chances and good chances into goals.”
