Every team that plays us knows that they can afford to sit deep, as we just do not have strikers who attack the goal. Yesterday's display included some great possession and build-up play, but was ultimately toothless in the penalty area. How many times do you see one of our players fizzing a ball across the 6-yard box, but with no-one busting a gut to get on the end of it? Defenders know that we don't have a striker who'll boss it close to goal, so they can sit back and effectively gift us the area just outside the box as there is unlikely to be a moment of magic from a ball passed to the p-shot.
Give us a proper predator (I'm not counting Defoe), and you'll see us dispatching the lesser teams.