I haven't seen anyone not trying... so I don't see how they're stealing anything. I just see a hugely demoralised group of blokes who, with the mounting pressure, appear to be feeling the mental and physical tiredness that becomes overwhelming towards the end of the season when things aren't...
There are a lot more builders in the world than people with the footballing talent to make it to the level where they earn that. And, sadly for builders, hundreds of millions of people every week don't want to stump up the money to watch them do their job. That's the nuts of it.
If a footballer does a shit job, he doesn't make it to the Premier League - and in the long run won't get any work either. The only difference is, he's on a short term contract which means he'll be used for a while: as are some builders and plumbers, presumably.
And as I expect the next answer...
I think they probably have a different department for thinking about bottle tops and flasks, so that probably doesn't have much influence on transfer policy.