A solitary win since September 17th. Manager looking less than a great fit, personality wise, and making a lot of off the cuff comments. A team now looking like it's lost the plot.
I look across the first team and bench and see cause for concern: a GK who knows he's under scrutiny; a captain who looks like he's lost discipline on and off the pitch; the ongoing festering boil that is the McCarthy situation; Lukaku making it known he's relieved on international duty to be playing with players up and around him; Mirallas and Deulofeu looking like they are bit part players and heading for the door; Barkley finding himself the unwanted centre of attention and target for the media.
The team have been questioned again this week about their intensity by Koeman - who also let slip midweek he hoped for four replacements for them in January. Next up is a tough grudge match away to S'ton whose players will be fired up and then 5 tough games on the spin after that culminating on Boxing Day away to Leicester. I cant see the type of fight here with this team that we could envisage picking up more than 5 points. The lack of reaction after the Chelsea mauling was shocking, and that's the best chance we'll have of nailed on three points out the window for some time to come. I hope in private they're sorting this out and that the manager is accepting that he too needs to up his game, because that dressing room can be pretty volatile. Once its lost it's lost for good. They dont do it in public, they make the anodyne comments - all the right noises about doing their 'level best' and 'dont know where it's going wrong' etc, but they know how to 'work to rule' and slip into a crisis mode very quickly.
This upcoming Southampton game will be enormous IMO.
