The fact of football is you will lose at some point, the main point is player quality and identification was miles off again and the real targets we couldn't get. Drinkwater and Zappacosta were bought, I'm sorry but there is no chance in hell they were main primary targets, these came on the back of knock back from other targets.
Of course we should be beating those teams but there is also another issue here, the intensity of the current campaign is taking it's toll, players like Alonso have zero competition, we bought an injured Drinkwater so that's two players to add to an already thin squad. Players are getting tired, you then need very good quality infills, just look at City, fully prepared for every campaign.
Fact of the matter and this football climate, penny pinching will find you out, because when the heat of the CL really starts kicking in and the PL title race hots up, these so called 'stop gaps' get exposed.