I still think that while we were all concentrating on the WC, Jürgen spent the summer break in 2018 analysing where we were, where we wanted to be, and how we were going to get there. After winning 5-0 against Napoli, we were expecting another season of goals goals and more goals. But he said in his press conference that winning a league was about winning 5 games 1-0 than winning 1 game 5-0. Weeks later, we were 1-0 up at Palace and grinding it out. Used to big wins and big blowouts, people complained that we didn't play well, when instead it was probably the plan all along. After that, came similar games against Leicester and Southampton, where we chose to see games out instead of battering the opposition further.
When we played in Europe, we won games after 2 legs, instead of going 5-0 up in 33 minutes, then conceding 6 goals before eventually crawling over the line. The neutrals complained that it wasn't a great final last year. I thought it was a demonstration of how to defend an early lead, control a game properly, then finish it off late on which allowed us to enjoy the last few minutes without panicking every time the ball approached our penalty area. It was the first clean sheet by any team in a final in 9 years.
We are still capable of heavy metal football, but it's refined now so that we don't have to score 5 goals to win one game of football. That change where the priority is points instead of goals, has won us 4 major trophies, 196 league points in 2 seasons, and our first title in 30 years.
So Jürgen won again.
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