You can hardly call it an anomaly, then. If they are doing the same thing other teams are doing, then why is it an anomaly? I think you just unpacked their success fairly well for a single sentence.<p>I could just say &quot;Get better players, play hard&quot;.<p>But saying we can&#x27;t learn anything is just false, considering there are teams that <i>aren&#x27;t</i> doing these things and are successful, and teams that aren&#x27;t and are not successful. Crystal Palace lacks any sort of pace or attacking threat, despite having a number of skilled, creative players. Manchester United have arguably better players, but are tactically limiting them by insisting on possession based football (or at least were until about 2 months ago) rather than a counterattacking approach. Clearly if it was obvious, all teams would be successful, no?<p>Saying we can&#x27;t unpack their success is the Big Sam school of football tactics, it&#x27;s all just instinct and good ol&#x27; English grit and longballing, nothing else to say.