He keeps getting out hustled in 50-50 situations. Sharpness doesn't seem to be there. The guy is only 29 so he should no way be over the hill yet (assuming no underlying injury issues). Got to think it is just a dip in form.
A lot of our key players are all having this dip in form right now obviously. Which makes me think it is mainly psychological (as does the fact that we are a lot worse away from home). I said earlier in the season that the huge effort we put in last season, getting so close to a quadruple but then missing out on both league and CL at the last gasp, has deep down maybe made some players feel how the f**k are we actually going to win the league this season, especially now City have stretched the gap in the squads further by signing Haaland. Looks to me like some of the belief and motivation has dipped. I suspect this is probably a bigger factor than either age or physical tiredness. Particularly against the smaller clubs and away from home, we just aren't as motivated or as driven as usual.
I suspect it will be temporary. We will summon up enough to get a top 4 spot, hopefully, when push comes to shove. And we may find that the CL gives us something we actually still believe we can win, and focuses our minds. But, this year, it looks to me like the players just haven't believed we can win the league, or at any rate can't summon up the will and reserves of mental energy to really make a go of it.
So, yeah, I think we will see Fab, and a few others, coming through this and eventually getting their form back by the second half of the season. (As long as we still have something to play for by then.)
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