You could argue that scrappy wins are part of any top team's campaign, but you cannot dispute that there are some serious underlying issues after another addition to our recent string of poor performances.
Like someone said earlier in the thread - our talented players lack the effort, our hardworkers aren't talented enough, and then there are those who lack both. Our squad has been getting worse season by season over the last decade, and there has been a systemic failure at the highest level which prevented us from stopping the rot. It is very apparent that we are run more like a marketing business at this stage rather than a football club. It shows in the players, in shows in our decisions, it shows in our squad management and it shows on the pitch.
I had a brief glimmer of hope that we'd make top four this season, enabling us to compete at the top level again. Ole seemed to have the squad reinvigorated and united for a push. But over the last month - with the fatigue kicking in, the injuries stacking up, contracts approaching expiry/renewal, and our momentum dropping off - we have clearly lost focus and points. It is quite unlikely, once more, that we're going to make the cut.
I really hope the club is prioritizing the acquisition of footballing people to decide and implement a long term vision by working with the manager and shaping the squad accordingly. Director of Football, Technical Director, Talent Acquisition Head - whatever fancy title they come up with. Ole on his own is going to get sacked by next December if he has to keep most of this squad, or have just Woody and his invisible cast of motley fools doing the transfers again.
We need to undo more than six years of poor vision and management, and to achieve that we need to stop corroding our squad even more than it already has been. The last thing we want is another summer of mega spending on all the wrong transfer targets. I don't expect a new Ole/DoF combo to start giving us Ronaldos and Vidics again - I just want them to stop spamming the squad with signings that hurt our balance.
Ole will not succeed unless changes are made at a higher level - it's as simple as that.