After a terrific win (funnily enough after a shocking first half display) at West Brom, The Tigers lost to Man Utd and Chelsea. This is eminently forgivable, and indeed we gave the Champions a fright on their own turf.
Next, we clearly deserved at least a point against Bolton at home, and were foiled by a super performance from Jaaskelainen. Then, a tumultuous home draw with moneybags Man City, before creditable points on the road at Portsmouth and Stoke. In fairness, few were questioning our Premiership safety at this point, and even less so when we were quite fortunate in beating Middlesbrough at home, and then gaining a fantastic point at Anfield.
It is since the 4-1 home defeat to Sunderland that our credentials have truly been questioned. Let's be honest, the Black Cats scored an incredibly fortunate second goal in that game, before picking us off well on the break. Ricky Sbragia admitted post-match that after 70 minutes his team were making changes to play the game out for a draw.
Then, the shocking performance at Man City on Boxing Day. Fair enough, City were hammered and deservedly so. But that happens, every team puts in a really poor performance at some point in a season.
We then keep a very talented Aston Villa side quiet for 87 minutes, until a mistake allows them to force a fortunate late winner; another game where we deserved a point.
Personally, I was most disappointed with the performance at Everton, where we offered very little. However, Myhill had little to do during the game, and we were undone by a header that was clearly offside and a wonder goal.
And the other night, we play a very good Arsenal side who picked us off with two good goals late in the game, a game which we looked capable of winning during the second half.
I'd say we've had a tough run of games recently, and if one rationalises the games, the performances in general have not been too bad. This isn't looking through rose-tinted spectacles, but I make it with three more points from the draws we should have had, we'd still be in 8th place, and 9 clear of the drop zone.
There are some very winnable games on the horizon. If we struggle against the likes of West Brom, Tottenham and West Ham, then a degree of concern is justified. But it really, really isn't at the moment.