Alastair Cook is deep in hostile territory, history is against his England team and he knows the Australians are going to come even harder at them in Perth.
He hasn't given up all hope of retaining the Ashes, though, even at 2-0 down in the five-test series.
England hadn't lost a test in 12 months until its 381-run defeat in series-opener at Brisbane. Now they've lost back-to-back matches. The 218-run defeat in Adelaide was on a flat wicket and the Australians are heavily favored when they return to a fast, bouncy surface in the third test at the WACA.
No team has come back from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series since Australia in 1936-37 but Cook said "It's certainly not impossible. "A lot of people will probably give us no chance," he said. "It's going to take a monumental effort from us to do it, but we're the only guys who can turn it around."
The difference between the last series and now is a more stable Australian team and the impact of sheer pace from Mitchell Johnson, who wasn't selected for Australia in the last series but who has terrified the Englishmen with his express, short-pitch bowling and taken 17 wickets already. "The guys selected to score the runs are not getting them, and that's starting with me," Cook said. "I need to score more runs, simple deal. "
"There are some very tough moments as a captain and we're in the middle of it," Cook said. "We're 2-0 down and I'm responsible as a captain for that in the sense that I'm leading the troops. It does hit you quite hard."
England hasn't won in Perth since 1978, and the defeat there in 2010 was its only loss of that series.