The real problem is a combination of, in no particular order:
A) Poor officiating - this goes without saying. Whatever the reason, officials have cost us points this season.
B) Everyone wanting to 'skelp' us and playing like it's a cup final
i) what comes out of this is need for us to play with a midfield of 5 and are forced to break teams down the hard way. However teams know this and aren't scared of us, so they sit in or come at us like it's a cup final.
C) Lack of strength in depth but that's just life in Scotland. We cannot afford 22 men of the quality we need to win the league - so we make do with 15 or 16 but this soon gets depleted thanks to injuries.
If I look at every single player in our strongest 11, I am not worried:
McGregor
Tavernier Goldson Worral Barisic/Halliday
Jack Davis
Candeias Arfield Kent
Morelos
In addition to this we also have the following, dependable players:
Foderingham
Katic
Kamara
McCrorie
Murphy (inj)
Dorrans (inj)
Middleton
McAuley
Coulibaly
Polster
Lafferty
Defoe
To win, we need to be able to attack like we're a 4-4-2 and keep the ball like we're a 4-5-1.
To be honest, I'd like to see us go with:
McGregor
Goldson McAuley Worral
Tavernier__________________________Barsisic
Jack
Candeias Arfield/Davis Kent
Morelos
I am no football tactician but to me, the above formation is the only way to attack like a 4-4-2 and keep the ball like a 4-5-1.
We have the men. They have the mentality (look at Europe and Dec Old Firm as examples). We have the manager. We have the vision. We just also have the above 3 things that make it difficult to us.