Watford coach, Cleverley hails goalscorer, Dennis for his predatory instincts

Watford interim coach, Tom Cleverly has revealed Nigeria international forward, Emmanuel Dennis played with a slight injury in the Hornet’s 1-0 defeat of their host, Birmingham at the St Andrew’s in a Sky Bet Championship game.

Cleverley has however praised the Nogerian ‘for poaching so perfectly just before half-time’.

Dennis’ predatory instincts saw him steal the ball and them calmly finish off the opening he created to decide a game of few clear chances against Birmingham.

‘We know that Dennis has got that explosive burst,’ Cleverley said.

‘As a defender you can think you’re comfortable on the ball, and then he appears from nowhere.

‘We said to the players we thought we would create chances through high regains today. We didn’t win as many as I’d like but the one that mattered went in.

‘He’s been nursing a small groin issue, so it was always in my mind that he wasn’t going to complete the game.

‘He’s done well to get to an hour and score the winning goal.’
The goal was Dennis’ third of the campaign after returning to the club for a second spell following a failed loan move to the Super Lig in Turkey.

In his first spell and first time in English football in the 2021/22 season, Dennis scored 10 goals and provided six assists in 35 games across all competitions with all the 10 goals coming in 33 Premier League appearances.