Cleverley has not been helped by a number of injuries to key players this season.
Exciting attackers Caleb Watts and Xavier Amaechi has been out since September with hamstring injuries and are unlikely to be fit until January
Meanwhile defenders Julio Pleguezuelo and Jack MacKenzie have yet to play this season after suffering knee and shin injuries respectively while captain Joe Edwards is likely to miss the next few weeks with a calf problem.
“Circumstances and a bit of bad luck here and there with injuries and has meant that it’s been a very, very challenging period,” Cleverley added.
“I think externally the result is all that matters and will always be the case in football.
“But internally I think people see the work that you do and the quality of that and that there is longevity in that, and that this really young group we’ve got will benefit from that and that we are the best staff to move that forward.
“But let me not get into a false sense of security – short-term results are priority number one.
“I need to address that, so we’re working 99% of our work towards that and thinking 1% about long-term vision right now.
“We saw that half the recruitment was done before I came in and you saw the direction the club was going down, that it was going to be a younger age profile of squad, there’s going to be a lot of developing in that.
“I’ve been at a club previously where you suffer a little bit for that, we’re going through that now compounded with other things, but there are certainly things I can control to make it better.”
