The fact that we won yesterday against a team that hammered us 6-1 not even three months ago is an amazing feat. How we won doesn't matter, the fact is we won; we earned those three points.
I absolutely disagree. Take last season for example. In March we went away and played terribly at Swansea, but we won 1-0, and afterwards everyone said "oh it doesn't matter how we won, all that matters is THAT we won...."
Absolutely wrong. The warning signs were there. It DID matter how we won. Because it might've been good enough to squeak by Swansea, but if we kept playing like that we would get found out, and very fast.
Lo and behold, it happened. The next week we lost at Anfield to the Mancs, playing the same sh*te football; the next game we got destroyed 4-1 at Arsenal. Then in less than a month we got played off the park by Villa in the semi final of the FA Cup while some child named Grealish danced around our midfield. In that same month we lost to Hull. Hull. Who got relegated because they were so sh*te.
Maybe if someone had taken a look at the Swansea game in March and said "okay, we won, but that was NOT good enough and we need to change something ASAP, this won't cut it against the Mancs and Arsenal,"---maybe the results that came afterwards would have been different.
We lost out on fourth by eight points. United: 70. Us: 62. Just taking those league games I mentioned above---had we beaten the Mancs that would have been a 6 point swing, they would have been on 67 points and us on 63. Beat Hull and suddenly we're on 66 points. Draw at Arsenal and we're suddenly level with them for fourth on 67. Beat Palace at home instead of losing 1-3 and we're on 70 and WE finish fourth.
So yes. It absolutely matters how poorly we play, even when we win. If we had cared more about it after the Swansea game then maybe our season would've turned out differently.
No one looks back at last season and says "well we had a terrible season but at least we twatted Spurs away in August." No. What matters is the whole season. And before you say "the season has just started," have a look at the games we've got coming up. We don't have the luxury of finding our groove in December. We've got to hit the ground running, and fast. And if we play like that yesterday we are going to be in massive trouble.
But you go ahead with your short-termism if that's what you want to do. Me, I'd rather we finish in the top four and celebrate that than have an orgasm after barely beating a sh*te Stoke team.