Gary Rowett has dubbed his Oxford United an 'easy touch' in his assessment of the season so far after West Bromwich Albion beat the U's 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
The U's lost their second game in a row in the Championship after letting their short-lived lead slip at the Hawthorns.
After a slow first half where the Baggies peppered the Yellows goal with shots, Will Lankshear put his side ahead not long after half time, swinging the ball home after Przemyslaw Placheta's cross was dummied by Nik Prelec and put on a plate for the striker.
It took just two minutes for Ryan Mason's men to respond though, as the hosts forced an own goal from Greg Leigh, Jamie Cumming's saves bouncing off the left back and into his own net.
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West Brom found a winner in the 70th minute when Aune Heggebo headed home an Isaac Price cross after a good run towards the near post.
Out of form prior to kick-off, the West Midlands club went into the game without a win in four league matches, not scoring a goal for six hours.
Sitting 21st in the Championship, United are no winless in three, an unfortunate way to send themselves into the final international break of the calendar year.
"I’m really disappointed in the position we’re in," Rowett admitted.
"I’m really disappointed with the points total we’ve got. I’m really disappointed with the way that we’ve just been a little bit of an easy touch at times to score against and it’s up to me to find that balance. That’s my job. I’m the head coach so I’ll try and find those solutions in the international break to give us a better opportunity."
It looks like the U's are going to have another tough battle to stay in the second tier again this campaign.
Taking over from the dismissed Des Buckingham last year, Rowett guided his side to safety, five places and four points clear of the drop.
It was not all smooth sailing, and the 51-year-old was keen to remind people that is unlikely to be any different this time around.
"We know the season is going to have lots and lots of ups and downs; it did last season.
"25, 26 games in which we stayed up, there were three periods, one of which we won one game out of 11...at the moment we need to also have those periods where we maybe go and win two games in a row which we haven’t done at the moment."
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It is coming up to a year since the U's last won two games in a row; those two results were a 3-2 win over Cardiff City on Boxing Day followed by a 2-0 victory against Plymouth Argyle three days later.
Both those sides were relegated later on in the season which is only evidence that these feats must be accomplished over beatable teams in the league in order for Rowett's men to propel themselves to safety.
The international break, then, will be a good chance to re-energise and re-motivate the U's players before a busy Christmas period and a difficult match against Middlesbrough in two weeks time.
"It’s more of a week of reflection, some part of it a little bit of rest, and then a week of really hard work in order to be in a better position."
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