Winning whilst playing badly
I thought we were poor-average, in terms of what we can do. I wasn't expecting anything above average playing this team before a big CL game, but Torino had to play well to get us to raise our level, and they were atrocious. Home derby, they spent the first half stood in defense, passing the ball around their defensive third, and on the rare occasion they got a counter attack they spent it throwing themselves to the floor around our area so Cerci could get a free-kick. Second half they were even worse, they did absolutely nothing of note even after going behind, until the 89TH MINUTE when Cerci got the ball to feet and they pumped a few balls into the box.
We were hardly turning the screw, mostly percentage stuff which again eventually paid off thanks to luck, but that's so often the case if you get the ball into certain areas. The short set piece stuff was really horrible and my main gripe, especially considering each time we had all our big men in the box ready for the ball in. If it's not working, as it clearly wasn't, then just get the ball in. Giovinco has a dangerous delivery, and we needed to be direct.
Considering we have come off the back of playing three shit teams in the league just before a very hard spell (Galatasaray H, Milan H, Fiorentina A, Real Madrid A, Catania H, Parma A, Real Madrid H, Napoli H) and have 9 points to show whilst expending little energy I have to be happy with the table. The performances and tempo are being deliberately subdued, but it's a bad habit to get into for a run of games. I expect Galatasaray will be considerably more positive and give us a little more space than Serie A minnows, but it's a big game we must win now.