It’s the atrocious mentality seared into their brains for the 18 months.10 minutes or so into the second half and we had a goal kick. Gaz passed out to Toby who looked up to see Winks stood in the centre of the pitch 10 yards outside the 18 yard area, calling for the ball. Toby passed to him and Winks without a second's hesitation immediately passed it back, to a huge groan from the crowd, which even drew mention from the commentator. A few minutes later and the whole routine was replayed but this time, possibly due to the booing he had received previously, Winks turned and moved forward, passing forward across the pitch to move play upfield. Having realised that the world does fall in on itself should you take a pass from a defender and have the guts to take responsibility and not simply play it back and put the pressure on the defender, Winks successfully reproduced this several more times. Quite why it's taken so long for Winks - and hopefully our other midfielders - to take on board this effective routine of moving the ball under control from defence through to midfield is baffling, but it felt like a huge hurdle was overcome yesterday and the consequence led to our improved performance in the second half.
1: Possession in our own box is better than risking losing the ball in the oppos box.
2: Sideways = Safe
3: Back is the new black
It’s going to take a while to excercise these demons