By Paul Tomkins.

Play poorly and win, and one of two things tends to happen: the points accumulated removes pressure, the results appear to increase confidence, and the performances improve; or the luck inevitably runs out, and defeats swiftly ensue.

Depending on your viewpoint, playing badly and winning is the sign of a good side, or a lucky side. Of course, both might be true, depending on the games in question. Certainly in these situations it tends to be the men at either end of the pitch – the goalkeeper and the goalscorer – who turn bad performances into points.

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