Before the season started, Watford were largely written off as bottom-half fodder, and even relegation candidates.
For much of the season they have flirted with the top six, and therefore ending squarely in mid-table could be seen as disappointing, despite the summer predictions.
So, are the Hornets a mid-table team, a bottom-half side that has overachieved, or a top-half outfit that has fallen short?
“I think you are where you end up, so we have to say we’re a mid-table team,” said Tom Cleverley.
“We are a team who on our day will win, but on our-off day will lose.
“The key for me is to get a certain level of basic foundations in managing the game.
“We have lost 21 games and only drawn eight.
“If we can turn eight or nine of those defeats into draws, you have a very similar record to Bristol City.
“We have won one game fewer than Bristol City, they have just drawn a lot more than us.
“If you look at the profile of their players, there is a lot more experience.
“Not experience as in players in their 30s, but players in their mid-20s.
“Players who know we’re having an off day, so let’s not get beat.
“My approach has to be that too: I approach every away game thinking how can we win it, and maybe that has to change slightly to ‘how do we not get beat’.
“We have approached every away game to win and yet we’ve only won four, so how do I set up a team so the players get – on an off-day – a draw, at minimum?
“We have lost too many games on our-off days this season, and you have to find a way to get a result.”
Other than in August, Watford never managed more than two wins in a row.
“We all say that anyone can beat anyone in this league and we know it’s tough, but I expect us to go on winning runs,” said Cleverley.
“We prepare the team and we have the quality that means I can expect us to go on runs, and I expect winning to be normal, and I expect people’s feet to stay on the ground when we do go on winning runs.
“We will go on these runs, but it’s been disappointing that it didn’t happen this season after the first month.
“We will be preparing for that to happen next season.”
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