Yesterday was all about winning the three points and we were successful in that. After a performance and result like that we always resort to the old cliche about sometimes you just have to dig deep and grab the win, even if it is not fully deserved. Sadly though, this was not an exceptional game, but has become very much the norm, and that is what is worrying me. We can never seem to be able to play more than 60 minutes of football in any game, with us struggling against inferior opponents (less skill, but often more heart and determination) for periods of 30 to 60 minutes in most matches.
Yes, we are still winning most games, but we are making them much harder than they should be. Also, when was the last time you saw a move that was clearly practiced in training that has led to a goal? I am not just meaning our set pieces, which have been awful for years now, but also moves happening during open play. For example, say we win the ball in our own half, it gets laid off and our winger knows to start bombing up the sideline knowing our midfielder will ping a pass to him. He then cuts it across the goal where he knows an attacker is making a practiced run to the near post to slide the ball into the net, with the opposite winger cutting into the back post to slot in any rebounds. These goals were routine for us in most games during the Ange era with Kyogo, Abada, Giakoumakis and even Elyounoussi scoring plenty of times.
But nowadays we just seem to rely on our individuals' superior skill being sufficient to overcome opponents to score. There is also an over-reliance on keeping safe possession at all costs rather than trying to be a bit more adventurous. It is just safe pass, after safe pass - how often do you see us just outside an opponents packed penalty box only to see the ball being fired back to Hart 5 seconds later? There is a severe lack of movement from our players, which makes the the tippy tappy possession ineffective. The players should be passing and moving - every recipient of the pass should have 2 or 3 options for the next pass, but this simply does not happen enough. Many of our fast front players are best running onto through passes played through the channels for them to run onto, but far too often these days the ball is played to the feet of static players who are marked so they will usually just pass the ball back to a colleague in a similar position.
Also, every single free kick in an opponent's half almost always restarts with a short tapped pass to a teammate rather than viewed as a serious chance to get the ball into the opponent's box to perhaps create a chance. As for throw-ins, we'd be as well just letting the opposition take them for us as we will almost certainly lose possession once it is finally thrown in. And no one seems to actually take on a defender by running at them and making them commit to a difficult tackle in a dangerous place. If a winger does attempt a dribble then it is usually to cut inside and run across the pitch hoping to have a shot from 20 yards out on their good foot.
This never meant to be moan because we do have a lot to be very positive about. However, there are a few flaws that we just do not seem to be addressing which is concerning. As I said many times before, I don't have a problem with losing games or trophies if we have done as well as we can or our opponent has deserved it. But we need to tighten up on some aspects of our game before it needlessly costs us a title which we should have secured before now. Yes, I understand that we have suffered far too many injuries this season (mostly in training it appears) and there have been a lot of bizarre VAR/refereeing decisions, but we need to deal with the end product on the pitch by the 11 men playing at any one time, as too often we are under-performing due to what appear to be very basic issues.