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- be asleep at the wheel
be asleep at the wheel
be asleep at the wheel
To fail to attend to one's responsibilities or duties; to be inattentive to that which is important or for which one is responsible. Johnson was supposed to make sure the paperwork went through before the deadline, but it looks like he was asleep at the wheel. Our goalkeeper is such a nincompoop. We would have won that match if he hadn't been asleep at the wheel!