Why is it we can beat ManU away but continue to struggle against much lesser teams at home? The obvious answer is that ManU don't park the bus and attempt to outplay us, any team that does that heightens the risk of being beaten. However I reckon that's a tad too simplistic to be the whole story.

I do wonder whether it's got more to do with a lack of guile in the present team. What I mean by that is someone like the Iceman could unlock even a packed defence with a totally unexpected piece of brilliance. For all the outstanding talent we have, even Cesc isn't yet at that level. Yes it comes from innate natural ability, but it also comes with time and experience which add their own sort of confidence. I fully expect a number of our present players to improve in this area, we just don't have it yet. The positive sides are that we are moving the ball much quicker, the passing is crisp and more accurate, it's just the finishing.

If you were to watch Saturday's game, we had a whole bunch of chances, and some went very close. Everton closed chances down very quickly and those they didn't our players snatched at presumably because they didn't realise they had as much space as they had. A little more composure would go a long way. Oh and Howard had a pretty good game with some very decent saves. But then when is an opposing goalie going to have a right 'mare at the Emirates it's about time I reckon.

Would be nice if we got the sort of luck Cahill did for the goal, when the ball hit him it could have gone anywhere, but instead it dropped nicely for him. Fair do's he took it well, but really shouldn't have got anywhere near, a defender should have if not blocked him then at least challenged for the ball. I expect a much better showing when we get Clichy back and Gallas can play in the middle of defence. We badly need his experience there at the moment and with fit Clichy we would have a genuinely left-footed wingback who would've been very effective against the Toffees. Arguments about the penalty that wasn't given, opposition tactics and time-wasting are a tad futile since we really should have put the game away with over two-thirds of the possession.

Having mentioned Hansen last time, I have to say I have allowed him to get on my nerves again. Van Persies after match comment about it being dissapointing for the fans to see such a negative game-plan was taken as whinging by Hansen and his sidekick Lawro. Just shows that they are predisposed to a negative reaction towards us rather than agreeing that if you're paying (a lot of) good money to see a game, it's nice to see both teams attack. S'pose it's a bit of a back-handed compliment that teams are so scared of us, but still it does get tedious.