Against Manchester United last week, we went for it. Today, we never really did. On more than one occasion in the first half, during open play and not a corner or free kick, we had all but one player in the box defending.
There is little you can do when you sit back so deep and allow so many of the opposition players to come at you, especially a team like Manchester City. They didn't need fight today, we gave them the ball where they like it and let them play.
But we were never really going to win were we and most accepted that. The thing is, right now, after twelve games (very nearly a third of the way through the season), we've got a goal difference of -12, only nine points and we sit in the relegation zone.
Relegation zone
Did you read that part? Yes, as of right now, we're in the relegation zone and up next we have Arsenal. Does anyone fancy us getting anything from that?
And this isn't me calling for anything and I'm all for pretty football, but there comes a time when we can't let this go on and Lambert really does have to turn it around soon, because if he doesn't, there is every chance the owner might.
For our owner, Premier League football is all and he isn't going to risk that for anything. But he'll be okay with a 5-0 defeat to Manchester City because he can live with that.
Points count
Again, this isn't me calling for anything and I like the football we are trying to play, but today we didn't try to play it and despite all the pretty football, points on the table are what count.
We have nine from a possible 36 and things need to change, very quickly. I don't like 'relegation' word and the last two seasons I've been quite clear that we wont go down, mostly because there were three worse teams than us. Right now, as of today, I don't see three worse teams.
Which puts my in a difficult place, because I like what Lambert is trying to do, but the thing is, he has to start doing it more quickly.