There was no excuse for not creating chances. When I saw the line-up, my first reaction was that Holtby should have played instead of Evans, with Travis injured. But then I thought, no, fair enough, we have four attack-minded players, so using Evans and Downing more conservatively is reasonable. (In fact, the midfield was largely bypassed, anyway!)
Unfortunately, the defence reverted to the worst features of the run last spring.
Lenihan, in particular, was all over the place in that first half, and you could see the confidence quickly drain away from the rest.
Seventwo is right about looking at the big picture, but I still think it might be sensible to go to three at the back in the next game - just to shake it up completely.
When you think about it, we have too many players whose contribution is much too unpredictable. Just take Dack, Armstrong and Rothwell. All three are skilful and good on the ball, but Dack seems to have lost his mojo, and the other two go from excellent to anonymous without warning.
As I've said many times, it's not just us, but it is frustrating.
My cousin, the Bristol City fan, has just emailed me to say his team were poor against Reading and very lucky to win. And what are we to make of the Swansea-Stoke result?!
As for the PL, what has happened to Everton. I thought they had a decent shot of sneaking into the top six this season.
Football really baffles you at times.
All the same, I am left a bit shell-shocked by our performance...AND we've got a long wait till the next game.