Just like the crop of young players in his squad, Tom Cleverley has been finding his head coach feet this season – and he readily admits to mistakes he has made along the way.
At the end of his first full season in the job, the former club captain said that trying to compete with a squad that lacked depth was the most significant error that he made.
“For sure we have been too light in the squad, which I must take responsibility for,” he conceded.
“I was 100% involved in conversations on having two or three strikers, or on loaning Porteous to Preston, and all those things.
“The club really backed me in those conversations and we know we also missed out on attacking option on deadline day.
“So it wasn’t for the want of trying that we didn’t get in an extra attacking option.
“We have been definitely on the light side and we’ve had a lot more absentees this side of Christmas, and not had the depth to be able to cope with it.
“I think that is a big part of my learning this year.
“I’m very present, and focus on what I can impact now and what I can impact on in the future.
“I have taken this week to reflect a lot, but I certainly don’t beat myself up over it.”
Although tomorrow is the final game of the season, Cleverley will be back at work next week.
“I’m looking forward to preparing for next season,” he explained.
“I’m sure my family will tell me I need to have a break, which I do, but I’ve had a real spring in my step this week when I think of planning next season, the squad and pre-season.
“I’ve done a lot of reflecting around ‘the why’ of the last three months, and I have real clarity of how we’re going to get that better to make sure we sustain a top-six place next season.
“It’s really important the players understand what I expect from them and how I want them to play, and those are messages we don’t have to repeat now.
“We can focus on recruitment; we can focus on physical condition.
“I don’t have to deliver a load of tactical information and principals of how we want to play, because the players who have been at the club know that.
“We will have a real focus in the summer on building a squad that can compete as well as placing more physical demands on the players this pre-season.”
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