This is a headline that works (slightly) better if you say it rather than read it. Though even that will fail miserably.
A bit like our form in the last seven days, too.
Three games in a week, and three losses. And yet, I manage to be unsurprised by all of them.
Plymouth was coming, and Arsenal was always a free hit, but I’m failing to be massively moved by this latest one.
Are we running out of steam? Or being found out? Or like the colds going about right now – have we simply forgotten what a bad week is like?
Your editor has mentioned the possibility that by the time we face Burton we could legitimately have four losses in a row.
Then the pressure really will start to build. And this without Ollie Palmer too.
For now, the benefit of the doubt is remaining. Even after this past seven days, we’re nowhere near the disaster of previous seasons.
At some point though, we need a kick up the arse. Especially now the euphoria of returning home is subsiding, and real life is intruding again.
It’s telling that NGW is getting a few brickbats, although we’re not exactly blessed in the left-back position.
Our goalscoring may dry up now, although we did find the net once yesterday. Sometimes, that’s all you need to do.
But Robbo wasn’t mincing words after the game yesterday. Unforced errors are down to one reason only, and that’s individual players.
Yet he also seems to suggest that teams are figuring out how to play us now, and we need to adapt to that.
The question is – can we?
That remains to be seen, but one suspects the squad are learning a lot more about themselves this week.
We’re starting to get into a losing streak that needs to be stopped very quickly. We all know what happens when you don’t.
Robbo himself is the right man for the job at this moment, but there’s only so much he can do.
Our decent start will thankfully cushion us for now, but we can’t live off wins against Oxford and Morecambe for too long.
We travel up to Rotherham on Tuesday (your editor may or may not be there, thankfully it’s pay on the day), and I’m in two minds about that one.
Another defeat will really start the panic merchants off, but a draw? Or even a win…?
We do get this upcoming fixtures a few times a season, when you’re not expecting anything whatsoever.
It’s not like we’re exactly coming into it with confidence. Assal is suspended (he’ll learn…) and we all know about Palmer’s absence**.
** – how pissed off will you be if by declaring himself fit for Arsenal, he then ended up making it worse?
I know we’ll always lose him a few times each season, but this one seems to have left a little sour taste in the mouth.
And it’s not like the Millers are in a downward spiral themselves, either. They let in a 91st minute penalty against Crewe yesterday, but they seemed to have thrown it away.
They’ll either gub us 4-0 or we’ll somehow get a massive 1-1 that feels like a win.
Which we’ll come from behind in. It’s our stock way of playing.
I don’t know how many of our fans will make the trip to the NY Stadium, although just over 300 to Salop yesterday was a decent effort.
Especially with people losing their shit over a handful of petrol stations closing because they forgot to hire some lorry drivers.
The ingenuity of the average football fan is never to be underestimated though, and I’m sure those who want to go will find a way of doing so.
And while I couldn’t possibly encourage illegal activity, Halfords are still selling some fuel syphon pumps…