I have been alarmed this season by the drop in quality of performance of both the team and individuals.
At the end of last season we looked an efficient compact team that defended and attacked as a unit.
We looked in control of games.
This season there has been a marked deterioration in performance of individuals and the team.
The only players who have played as well this season ( other than for the last two games) are Hennessy, AWB and Tomkins.
What has changed?
Yes we’ve lost Cabaye and RLC but could this have such a dramatic effect?
The only game where we’ve defended and attacked in a similar way to last season is Burnley at home which now looks to more representative of Burnley’s poor form.
We do not look any sort of threat going forward and don’t look likely to keep a clean sheet.
Roy only seems to be prepared to use around 15 of the squad and of these he obviously doesn’t trust Sorloth and Ayew.
The optimists(or dreamers) point to the return of Benteke and Wickham and this should help but there is no guarantee this will lead to a marked improvement.
I don’t see us bringing in more than one or two in January and don’t see Roy using a dramatically different approach.
The catalyst for change has to be quality new players, new manager, or a big step up in performance from the existing players.
At the moment the latter looks the most feasible option.

We just haven't got going this season. We seem to always be a team of half seasons. Even under Pards when we were flying around this time we nearly got relegated with a shocking second half. Obviously I'm hoping that this season is the same and we push on in Jan. Possibly our stay in this league might be a permanent squeeze to remain in it as teams around us progress, especially financially. Perhaps expectations are too high and the realism around us not being seen.

“ [T]here are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know.But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know. ”
—United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

The season so far has been an incomplete team limping through to January. We've put in some good performances here and there but this is pretty much the points total you'd expect from a team without a striker and very thin creative options.

Totally underachieved. Given where we finished last year - 11th, we should have kicked on with ambition and investment by the board to equal or better this position. Why we didn't buy a centre forward defies understanding and logic!

Losing against the 10 men of Brighton is despicable, no excuses whatsoever..... players should have had their pay docked for this.

West Ham defeat with us 1-0 up needs an explanation from the players as there is clearly a problem. Was the weather too cold??

Probably in truth its didums stuff but whatever the reason you as players need to deal with it as professionals who at the present are doing completely f*** all to address it. Just think of the many supporters who pay to travel and the gate money to watch you under perform while still pulling your incredible wages
You are seriously under performing!!!

SP get a grip and start spending some money to invest in this club as you should have done in the Summer. A '0' hygiene rating in the players canteen is disgraceful. Also, start paying your suppliers on time, many of whom are small local suppliers. You 'talk a good game' but just don't back it up!!

Bring back Brolin

Pretty s***.

Trump lost. Badly. Hahahahahahaha.

No Willo it's yet another example of trying to get by on the cheap. We should have scouted and then gone for a proper centre forward but as our scouting is an absolute f****g joke I suppose it's YouTube!!

Sums us up.

Bring back Brolin