Much better than packing the midfield and waiting for the inevitable defeat.

Would pundits blame the forwards for the inevitable defeat?

The ferocity of the current fighting will be nothing though, compared with what comes after the inevitable defeat.

That's mainly because there's a dispiriting whiff of inevitable defeat to the narrative.

Then, next morning after the inevitable defeat, the embarrassment that slowly seeped in as the enormity of the defeat struck home.