I get that, it's not entirely foolproof but it is a pretty handy metric of how you're doing. The eye test tells me that too, I thought we looked much better earlier in the season and our XG backs that up as in pretty much every game up to Burnley (our last game of 2023) bar three or four games we had the higher XG. And we looked and were a bloody good side in the first half of the season.
Since the turn of the year I have found myself more frustrated watching us noticing we are looking worse than our opponents more often than not and checked the XG and low and behold, we had started to record lower XGs than our opponents far more frequently. It's easy to ignore the data but it's absolutely right there in front of you and you can see when you watch the game.
If this is just about getting through the rest of the season playing like this and we still sneak 4th, ok, but if this continues into next season it really won't be good. I'm not necessarily saying we've been found out but it is a concern for me and I'm surprised it isn't for everyone else as you all seem so calm.