Flattered to Deceive

[Redline]

Any footie fans wanna explain this one to me? I hear it all the time (which says something about my teams performance) but it has never made sense to me.

I think it's said about a team who put in a dissapointing performance. Losing to someone they really should have beaten.

I don't get it.

[KevanGuy]

And I thought it meant a team playing over its head. Like the team plays better than they actually are.

[KevanGuy]

Since this didn't get any answers in the Sports forum I thought I'd move it to OT to see if anyone knows.

[jus_sum_guy]

A few definitions I found when googling the phrase along side sports...

Flatters to deceive. ‘We know it’s actually bad, despite many people thinking it looks quite good.’

flatter to deceive
to give the appearance of being better than the true situation: