Leicester City have endured a rough week, and it could be about to get even rougher.
After back-to-back away defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and then Brighton on Saturday, two defeats in which City simply have not performed, manager Nigel Pearson pledged to 'liven them up'.
His vow had an ominous tone about it. It seemed to be spoken by a man who simply will not accept performances like this one again.
Every side can have an off-day, but City have had two in the space of five days.
And with fixtures against automatic promotion rivals Burnley and QPR – who both leapfrogged deposed leaders City after their defeat at the Amex Stadium – next up, Leicester cannot afford to continue in a similar manner.
Just like at Hillsborough on Tuesday night, City left themselves a mountain to climb with a poor first-half performance. If anything, this was even worse than against Sheffield.
City were second-best in all departments to Brighton, who were also looking to respond after a shock midweek defeat to Barnsley.
City opted for a 4-3-3 system but Marcin Wasilewski was cruelly exposed at right-back against the pace of Craig Conway, while the midfield three were out-fought and out-thought by Brighton's three, especially David Lopez, while in attack Jamie Vardy and David Nugent were virtually anonymous.
Lloyd Dyer seemed to provide City's only attacking threat in the first half, accompanied at times by Danny Drinkwater's runs from midfield.
But besides having plenty of the ball themselves, City were ponderous in possession.
Without Vardy and Nugent able to provide a platform from which City could build attacks, they struggled to make any headway and were forced into a succession of sideways and backward passes as each attack faded away against the Seagulls' superior work-rate without the ball.
But even more worrying has been City's tendency this week to concede soft goals, and so it was again when Ashley Barnes was left unmarked at the far post to tap home Lopez's cross in the ninth minute.
Kasper Schmeichel's clearance was easily picked up without a City challenge, and then Lopez was afforded plenty of time and space to pick out Barnes, who had peeled off the back of captain Wes Morgan into space as Wasilewski was not on the cover.
There is no doubt Wasilewski does not look as comfortable at right-back as he does at centre-back. He struggled to contain left-winger Conway and was booked after just four minutes following an early challenge when he had been outpaced.
Wasilewski was then caught out of position for Brighton's second in the 28th minute when Lopez's long ball picked out Conway, who checked back as Wasilewski tried to recover before firing past Schmeichel.
Things had to change at half-time, and the introduction of Anthony Knockaert, and the switch to their preferred 4-4-2, certainly improved City, who had opted for a similar system to Brighton's in the first half and found the hosts were simply better at it.
Still City could not claw their way back until they suddenly burst into life with just under half an hour to go, Gary Taylor-Fletcher adding some attacking impetus.
Andy King headed City back into contention with a close-range diving header at the far post from Knockaert's free-kick in the 64th minute and the hosts were rattled.
Goalkeeper Peter Brezovan, who was called into the side at the last minute after Seagulls stopper Tomasz Kuszczak picked up an injury in the warm-up, was now the busier of the two keepers and he had to touch a Taylor-Fletcher header over the bar.
Then he denied King a second after Paul Konchesky and Taylor-Fletcher had caused panic in the Brighton penalty box.
However, just when City were on top, they were hit by a sucker-punch when Morgan was adjudged to have fouled Barnes when winning a defensive header, and Barnes, who had gone down in theatrical fashion, picked himself up and beat Schmeichel from the penalty spot to finish City off.
Harsh words were once again said in the City dressing room as Pearson will be concerned at this week's sudden dip in form.
They can certainly not afford too many more first-half displays like the ones they have served up on the road this week.
