Treat the process with a pinch of salt

EARLIER this week, a friend of mine attended a National League fixture which he described as the worst game of football he’d ever paid to see. Sorry, but I’m not naming names.

- Chris Dunlavy

The problem, he suggested, was that both managers had instructed their team to build from the back, despite neither possessing defenders with the requisite technical ability.

Wayward passes and panicked touches quickly took precedence, eliminating any possibility of the joga bonito that was, presumably, the objective.

A “f***ing mess” was how he phrased it, though the afternoon was enlivened by supporters of the away side ironically singing about trusting the process.

If you haven’t heard this phrase before, I can only assume you’ve been on an Arctic research station for the last four years, because it’s rapidly become as ubiquitous as giving 110 percent or running through brick walls.

Foundations

Hand any modern manager a microphone and he’ll be blathering about processes within 30 seconds, haughtily informing anyone who’ll listen that a 5-0 hiding is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

It’s all Mikel Arteta’s fault, really. The Spaniard constantly exhorted Arsenal fans to trust the process during the early months of his reign, when turbulent results and inconsistent performances had the Gooners on his back.