Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and get out with what you can.
That seems to be the mentality that Pep Clotet is instilling in the players at St Andrew’s at the moment as the Blues managed to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12 games after a 0-0 draw away to Millwall last night.
And speaking to the club website after the game, the Spaniard spoke about the Blues performance on the night, and that whilst he went there with the intent of grabbing all three points, that this was one of those occasions where it was better to be safe with one point rather than trying for another two and possibly ending up with nothing:
“I am proud of our performance and credit has to go to the players. We follow a game by game mentality, if you can’t win a game then make sure you do not lose it. We are in a moment where the squad is a little bit thin, but I am proud that we are sitting on 46 points, very close to last season’s tally of 52.”
At least he seems to be taking away games a little bit more seriously now, as opposed to his previous comments where he treated away games as throwaway affairs, which I’ve criticised him for in the past.
Whilst we’re not in a relegation scrap at the moment where ‘every point counts’ and we’re being forced to grind out results, it is at the very least a great learning experience for him as he continues to develop and grow as a manager in this division.
As I’ve been pointing out, a lot of what’s going on in the next couple of weeks needs to be done with an eye on next season, and whilst I may have been talking mainly about personnel, that should also stretch to the mentality as well.
Use this run as a benchmark for how you want to attack things next season, and then hopefully we’ll find ourselves closer to the top of the table than the bottom like we have done in recent years.