What does back to basics really mean?

[Morph 19]

OK, I''ve played quite a bit of local league soccer in my time, including several seasons in one of the local Yarmouth leagues. I wouldn''t say I''ve been coached other than by the various PE teachers at school, but when the various parties at City roll out the phrase "We need to get back to basics" what do they mean?Some fundamental basics to me:1. Pass to a person on your team when you''re in possession of the ball.2. Close down your opponent.3. Make a tackle when you''re in a position to do so.4. Move into space so your team-mates can pass to you.5. Attack the ball when challenging for crosses/high balls and so on.6. Don''t wait for the ball to bounce when it comes to you in the air.7. Play to the whistle - e.g. carry on and shoot even if you think you may have been off-side.8. Try to commit the opposition - running at an opponent tends to pull players out of position just as easily as movement off the ball.9. Don''t lose possession through poor control.Some team fundamentals:1. Maintain your set "x" lines going forward and tracking back.2. Don''t defend too deep.3. Move forward as a unit/move back as a unit - "x" lines up together, "x" lines back together.4. Don''t space your "x" lines (attackers, midfield, defenders) too far apart on the pitch - in other words attempt to compress the play.I''ve raised the question because I sat watching the coverage of the Plymouth game and whilst we won there were a couple of stand out things that struck me.a) too much space between the "x" linesb) the team didn''t move forward as a unit or back as unit - numerous times the space between midfield and attack was stretched or defense and midfieldc) not much movement into space to create passing opportunities - whilst you can argue the second goal came about after 16 passes I wouldn''t argue it was down to players being pulled out of position by great off the ball movement or incisive passing, more it was down to poor defending and a damned good cross d) didn''t see much tackling going on in the midfield to reclaim possession when it was lost - poor control by City players yes, poor passing maybe but tackling back, umm.What about the rest of you - what basics from your past are City not doing at the moment?...