Sticky Toffees

CAN'T we go back to the days when we used to score five past Everton?
On the face of it, there's no shame in a 1-0 defeat at Goodison. David Moyes' side have become a genuine force in both the Premier League and in Europe, and only Arsenal, Stretford Red Sox and Liverpool have won as visitors there this season.
And okay, we've managed to stay in the top four most of the season despite not being able to land the killer blow away from home.
But on Saturday we lost to a badly defended set-piece in a game we could have won.
And while Liverpool squeaked up into fourth place, the Anfield men are being found out and it's their cousins from across Stanley Park who are the real threat to City's ambitions of Champions League football next season.
Some City fans will say I shouldn't even be talking about the Champions League when we've dropped to seventh and can't win a game on the road.
But it's that sort of attitude, Sven will tell you, that lost us the game on Saturday.
The super-cool Swede came as close as he ever does to losing his rag (sorry, poor choice of word) after the match, letting rip with the fiercest criticism we've heard from him this season -the Chelsea game apart.
City were too negative at Goodison, they played long balls and should have had the confidence to try and take Everton apart with the great football we all know they can play.
The Liverpool game springs to mind, when City stifled the game and barely created a chance. Okay, we got the point and kept our unbeaten league record at Eastlands intact, but could we have won the game if we'd been a bit more positive?
We certainly could have beaten Everton, although the need for us to have our forwards firing is becoming ever more pressing as the rest of the league learns to take Elano and Martin Petrov out of the game.
But let's keep this in perspective - we've lost 1-0 at the fortress of one of the best sides in the country, and we're talking about that as a bad result. That shows the huge strides we've made since last season.
Remember last season? No, it wasn't just a bad dream.
And at least we have the chanceto get our own back on Everton when they come to our fortress - where nobody apart from us has taken three points - in six weeks' time.