Tinrib We simply lack any semblance of class across the midfield.
Its not the players fault, - they're just not good enough. .
"good enough" for what though?
To expect to be mid-table? Clearly not.
To expect to stay up? Most of them are.
The idea that the whole team are really just championship standard is daft. A championship standard team wouldn't have achieved what we have over the last two seasons. You can't fluke it for two years.
The problem, as one or two have mentioned, is that the midfield is failing completely, starving the strikers of chances and leaving the defence exposed.
We do miss Sidwell, but we also really miss Little, and also the Hunt of last season. Harper isn't really doing all that much different to what he's ever done. The difference is that Harper no longer has a tackler alongside him, and his usual ability to instigate attacks by giving the ball quickly to those that do the damage looks much less useful when there aren't the players there doing the damage.
There were actually a few moments in the first half when we started passing the ball about more like last season when we went forward, but sadly only in the middle third rather than the last one. If we can pick up a couple of good midfielders in January, assuming that Cisse and Fae are written off, then thing could look very different. If we don't, then we are no better than 50/50 to stay up.